Swallowtail
by Slip of Red
Summary: When their paths crossed, each knew the other was something special. Him being a dork, her being a grouch, the fact that they were on opposing sides of a war, none of it mattered. They were united from then on, in all they do. Eventual HashiMada. Fem!Madara Chapters 1-4 in editing process
1. Riverside

**Warnings for this chapter: mild swearing**

* * *

_Arc One: Before the beginning_

_**Chapter One: Riverside**_

"Are you ok, nee-chan?" Izuna's little voice rang next to Madara's ear tentatively. The two were currently seated in an empty training ground in the Uchiha compound, and Madara had just come back from Tajima's office after a rather irritating mission. Madara sighed and ruffled her little brother's hair, forcing down her previous annoyance at her father's latest lecture. It wouldn't do to have her little brother see her in such a state.

"I'm alright, otoutou," she finally answered, forcing a weak smile on her face, "I'm just a bit annoyed, that's all."

Observing the way her little brother's face set into a small frown, Madara sighed to herself again. Izuna, at the age of seven, was far too young for this war and carnage. But as much as Madara despised the idea of her last remaining brother becoming a ninja, she knew that he would need those skills very soon. There was no such thing as mercy in the Era of Warring States. If Izuna didn't learn the way of the shinobi well enough, quick enough, he would be killed. And Madara would be _damned _if she ever let that happen.

"Madara nee-chan, what did tou-sama say to you this time? You don't usually look so mad." Her little brother piped up again, and Madara's smile faltered as she recalled the details of her father's chastisement. _He said I botched the mission singlehandedly, even though that isn't true at all. He told me to train like hell and neglect everything and everyone, including you. He called all girls weak and said that they don't belong on the battlefield. He told me to prove him wrong. _

"…Nothing, Izuna. He didn't say anything too different at all. Only that I have another mission next week."

"I see." Izuna tipped his head to the side, as if he were thinking. Finally, he asked a rather surprising question: "Do you ever feel stressed, nee-chan?"

Madara was taken aback."…no." she eventually answered. She was hesitant sharing her troubles with her little brother. After all, it was her duty as the older sibling to make sure Izuna lived as carefree a childhood as he could in the war. However, Izuna saw through her hesitance.

"You're lying, Madara." He said simply, and there was something in the finality of his tone and the lack of an honorific that prompted Madara to reply.

"You know me too well sometimes." Madara finally answered, smiled tiredly, "Occasionally. It feels like there's a lot going on, too much to keep up with. I have to train, I have to be stronger than everyone, not only because I want to stay alive, but also because I'm tou-sama's daughter. It's the same for you, Izuna. It's a lot of pressure. But don't worry," she quickly added when she saw anxiety flit across Izuna's face, "I'm handling it just fine. I'm alright, aren't I always?"

Her brother sighed and said, "I think you need to take a rest, nee-chan. Go outside the compound for a while, take your mind off things. I know you're not technically the clan heir, but it's still stressful to be the daughter of the clan head. It's ok. I understand. Go to your favorite spot by the river, nee-chan. Tell them you're training outside the compound or something, the guards will buy it. That's one advantage to being the children of the clan head, huh?" Izuna finally smiled, and his smile was warm as the sun, full of understanding with a tad of mischevious joy that children his age should have all the time. Seeing her brother's smile, Madara couldn't help smiling too. She nodded.

* * *

The sun was over the treetops by the time Madara headed out to the river. Like her brother had predicted, the guards were no trouble at all, and had let her outside without a second glance. As she ambled along the sunlit forest trail, her heart soared with joy as she listened to the peaceful trilling of warblers and the animated chatter of squirrels. _If only the world of humans could be this peaceful too, _she mused to herself. Approaching the river's shore, however, she stopped short. There was someone there.

Her shinobi training kicking in, Madara instantly sprang into action. As stealthily as she could, she leaped onto the nearest tree, using chakra to soften her landing so that the tree branch would not shake as much. She silently leaped from tree to tree, getting closer and closer to the human presence she detected. When she was close enough, she began to cautiously observe the stranger.

He stood with his right side facing Madara, and he was dressed oddly in light colored, baggy clothes with a horrible bowl cut of brown hair that made Madara cringe. He had dark eyes that were fixed intently on the opposite shore, and seemed to be about two inches taller than Madara herself. In his tanned hand he held a flat stone, and Madara watched carefully as he expertly skipped the stone to the other side. _I can't even do that! _Madara thought indignantly as she watched the boy dust his hands, a satisfied smile on his face.

When the boy had skipped six rocks in exactly the same manner, Madara decided that he wasn't a threat. From his appearance, he was probably around the same age as her, or perhaps a little older. _Besides, even if he wants to fight, I can take him on, he's a kid just like me, _Madara thought, and with this in mind, she dropped from her branch, right in the boy's face as he turned around.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

There was a loud, deafening scream, and before Madara could even wince from the volume the boy had already back away a good five paces and had his hands held up in front of him as if to block an attack. Madara just closed her eyes and rubbed her temples for a moment to recover from the blast of noise delivered directly in her face. When her ears had finally stopped sending spasms of pain signals to her brain, she looked up, only to find the boy gaping at her in apparent shock.

"What, never seen a girl before?" she snapped sarcastically, now thoroughly irritated. Izuna had told her to come to the river to relax and take her mind off things. And this apparent _idiot _in front of her certainly was not helping at all. Did he just _have_ to scream in her ear? Seriously, all she did was drop out of a tree in his face and he freaks out like that? _…Ok ok, maybe I would have been freaked too. But only maybe. And it won't happen. Ever. _

"Well?" she demanded, since the boy was apparently still in shock and had not responded to her previous remark. At this demand, though, the boy seemed to finally descend back to the real world. To Madara's astonishment and exasperation though, the way the boy responded was not what she had expected at all.

"Oh, right, yeah! You scared me, ya know! I mean here I was just minding my own business, and you come dropping outta nowhere and scaring me!"

Madara stared incredulously at the still unnamed boy, half tempted to wash her ears out in the river to see if she had actually heard what she thought she heard. "…I get that you were scared, as if you yelling as loud as you can in my ear didn't make that clear enough! And you're talking about me dropping out of trees?!"

To her utter bafflement, the boy suddenly dropped into a squatting position on the pebbly shore of the river, his arms curled around his legs and his face buried in his arms. She could practically _see _the aura of depression radiating off the boy, and she hasn't even activated her sharingan yet. She didn't know what to make of the situation.

"I'm sorry," the boy mumbled into his arms, still stuck in that strange curled up position as if he'd been that way his whole life, "I didn't think I'd scream that loud, I was just startled. I'm so sorry, and you're a girl too. Boys shouldn't scream at girls. You must think I'm a bad person now…"

Madara carefully eyed the curled up boy who was still wallowing in depression. Tentatively, she squatted next to the curled up boy and awkwardly patted his shoulder. "I don't think you're a bad person, I was just mad that you screamed in my face." she grudgingly explained. "And…" she grimaced and hesitated slightly over whether or not to offer an apology, but finally decided to get it over with. "I guess it was kind of my fault too for leaping off that tree and scaring you like that. Sorry. There! I said it!" She shouted, suddenly extremely annoyed at the fact that this boy had managed to maneuver her into a position where she needed to say sorry. However, she was not prepared for what happened next.

The boy who had been the very epitome of depression suddenly sprang up, a brilliant grin on his face. "Hooray!" he cheered loudly, "I'm not a bad person anymore! Thank you for forgiving me for my misconduct! And your apology is totally accepted by the way." He added, calming down. Madara, however, was completely shocked and infuriated by this 180 degree turn of events.

"WHAT THE HECK!" she screeched, "First you act up and scream in my face, and then you become depressed like a kicked puppy, and now you're all back to sunny again! Learn how to transition, idiot!" And immediately, the boy was back to the curl up position, a perfect replica of his situation about ten seconds ago, complete with his buried face and cloud of depression. Madara just face-plamed. "Why do I even bother…" she said to no one in particular. She grabbed the boy's arm and roughly attempted to pull him up. "Come on, get up! I don't have time to deal with your depression all day! Who are you anyways?! You just show up out of nowhere at my favorite section of the river, and-"

"Showed up outta nowhere?" the boy suddenly raised his head from his seat on the floor and looked at Madara oddly, his depression gone and replaced by a thoughtful frown. "This is my favorite section of the river too. I come here every once in a while to skip stones and stuff."

Madara frowned. This weird boy squatting in front of her did the same training activities that a shinobi did? She wouldn't believe it. As she carefully scrutinized the boy's appearance, trying to find some similarities between him and a shinobi, her mind was going a mile a minute. _There's absolutely n__o way, _she though in denial. Deciding to clarify, she asked bluntly, "Are you a shinobi?"

The boy nodded, apparently not at all disturbed by her blatant skepticism. He smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm a shinobi. Why? Is there a problem?"

Madara sighed and rubbed her forehead. "No, not a problem," she answered grumpily, "just a big surprise on my part. Now I'm actually gonna have to skip stones with someone watching nearby. This sucks."

The boy suddenly seemed to realize something, for he turned to her with a baffled expression on his face. "You skip stones? I thought only shinobi did that for training!" he exclaimed, "You're a girl. Girls don't fight battles."

Madara was about to retort angrily that this girl sitting right in front of him does fight and is pretty damn good at it too, when she realized something very important. Only the Uchiha clan has put a girl in battle, namely her. If she told this stranger that she was an official shinobi, it would be the equivalent of giving away her identity and clan name. So instead, she said, "I don't fight battles, My clan leader just wants me to learn how to fight so that I'm not completely helpless if someone attacks the base where I live."

At the mention of attacks, the boy's expression became serious. "Yeah," he said, "It always feels better here at the river, because it's so peaceful. Unlike at home, that is." Hearing this, Madara turned her head to stare at the boy incredulously. She had not expected the boy to share such similar views with her. Shaking her head in disbelief, she sat down next to the boy on the river shore.

"It's nice out here. I can't come here very often though," she remarked casually, "there's always things to get in the way, like training and such."

The other boy observed her for a moment, as if he was seeing her for the first time. Then he nodded in understanding, and he seemed briefly contemplative. "Say," he began, "if you are a somewhat shinobi in training, we could have a stone skipping contest. It'd be interesting to compare our skills, whadaya say?"

Madara gave him a flat stare. This boy was just getting weirder and weirder. First he freaks out at her jumping out of a tree, then there's that thing with the random depressions, which by the way were totally unnatural, and now this. He was inviting her, a girl he didn't even know the name of yet, to a competition in a shinobi exercise. _This boy, _she decided, _was simply bizarre. _

_"..._contest?" she repeated dubiously.

"Yes, a contest. I think it'll be fun, and besides, no harm done, right? It's not like we're giving anything away." The boy replied, a hopeful smile on his face.

Madara heaved a dramatic sigh. This boy was seriously too persistent for his own good. _On the other hand though, he's right in saying there's no harm. And his smile reminds me of Izuna..._ At last, running out of reasons to refuse and too tired to argue further, Madara accepted. It would be the first of many times that she was convinced by his words and by his smile.

"Alright then! We should have a stone-skipping contest! It'll be fun! Come on!" The boy sprang to his feet, pulling Madara up with him. "Come on! Let's go! It'll be fun!" he repeated, "Now I'll finally have someone to play with!"

Madara just shook her head in exasperation, slowly getting used to the strange antics of her new acquaintance. Suddenly, a very important question occurred to her. "Hey you, what's your name?"

The boy who had been frantically gathering stones stopped for a moment and stared at Madara. "…My name?" he repeated slowly, and Madara nodded her head sagely.

"Yes, your name. Every competitor must know the other competitor's name before they begin any sort of competition. It's only fair." she said, a hint of merry mischief slipping into her tone.

"Alright." The boy agreed, and then he grinned brilliantly and reached out his hand. "My name is Hashirama, and I'm eleven!"

And despite all the annoying quirks that Madara had needed to deal with, somehow his smile made it worth it. Despite herself, she reached out and shook the newly named Hashirama's hand firmly. "I'm Madara, and I'm ten."

"It's nice to meet you, Hashirama."

She delivered the sentence with utmost sincerity.

"It's nice to meet you too, Madara!"

Came the reply, in the same joyous warmth the other seemed to naturally extrude.

She was dragged off to gather stones with the odd but strangely likable boy with the Izuna-like smile. The sun was hurting her eyes and Hashirama's grip on her arm was far too tight, but for the first time in her life, Madara was sure that _maybe, just maybe, _she had found a friend. And that made the annoyances tolerable.

* * *

**I've wanted to write a gender-bent HashiMada story for quite some time, seeing as there is far from enough, and the right idea has finally struck. This is going to be a long fic, with four arcs planned. This is a semi-AU story, and it WILL branch off from canon later. And although the plot mainly focuses on the pairing HashiFemMada, that is still some ways off and there will be a lot of development before the romance actually starts kicking in. The beginning is a bit slow though, so please bear with me. _I promise _it will get better.**

**It's going to be quite the challenge for me, but I believe I had planned the story well, and I swear it will be completed. If there are any questions or problems, please let me know either in a review or a pm. If there are no problems and you thought the story was amazing/awesome/interesting, please please _please _leave a review, as they are much loved by this new author.**

**And that ends the first chapter. In the next chapter, Hashirama and Madara will meet some more times and we'll get a view of what life is like for Hashirama.**

**Please leave a review!**


	2. Saplings

**Warnings for this chapter: mild swearing, Fem!Tobirama**

* * *

_Arc One: Before the Beginning_

_**Chapter Two: Saplings**_

"Well, that's my last one!" Hashirama said cheerfully, and he sat on the ground leisurely as he watched his last skipping stone land with a dull clunk on the opposing river shore. Beside him, Madara frowned in concentration, her eyes slightly narrowed at the shore. Hashirama watched curiously as her rock sailed across the river for five, six, seven skips before it finally sunk, a few paces from the shoreline.

"Damn it," she grumbled, "not again! Stupid rocks." Hashirama almost laughed at the frustration clearly painted on the girl's face.

"You're really good at this," he commented, earning himself a playful smirk.

"I try." Madara replied, sitting down next to him. She then remarked, "You're not so bad yourself, but I'll beat you next time. You wait and see!" Hashirama laughed then, and they exchanged mirroring smiles.

Madara, he decided, was an interesting person, unlike anyone he had ever met. Judging from the way she completed the shinobi stone skipping exercise, she was obviously a very hard worker when it came to training. Her performance was only marginally lower than Hashirama himself, and that was quite impressive, for he knew he was a so-called prodigy in his generation.

There was also the fact that she was a girl. A girl who trained in shinobi arts! The only other girl Hashirama knew of that even dabbled in shinobi training was Tobirama, and that was only when tou-sama wasn't watching. Unlike his sister though, Madara did her training in the open, with the apparent full approval from her clan leader. The situation was just too abnormal, too exceptional, too out of place. There had to be more to it. His mind made, Hashirama stood abruptly.

"Hey Madara," he began, and the girl's head immediately snapped up in attention, "before entering this rock-skipping contest with me, you mentioned that you could fight, right?" At first, she seemed to be thrown off by the question, but then she recovered and nodded in confirmation.

"Great!" Hashirama cheered, and then he immediately leaped into a stance, "Have a spar with me, Madara! Taijutsu only! Show me how good you are!" after all, what better way to test a shinobi's competence than an actual fight?

Madara's eyes narrowed sharply, and she glared at him for a few moments. But Hashirama could tell that she had noticed the challenge to her abilities embedded in his words, for the uncertainty in her eyes vanished, replaced by clear, _burning _black eyes. She swiped her spiky black fringe out of her eyes roughly and gave him a fiery, wicked smile. "Bring it on, Hashirama!" She announced, leaping up and taking her stance a few paces away from him.

Hashirama tensed in anticipation, adrenaline singing in his veins. He could hear the blood pounding behind his ears in his anticipation, and an ear splitting grin stretched across his face. He was a ninja, after all, and in order to achieve his goal of peace, he had to grow strong enough to survive this war. To do that though, he needed to train and fight with a worthy opponent, and he had a strong feeling that the girl who stood before him would not disappoint him.

His dark brown eyes found her burning black ones, and no further signals were needed. They headed straight for each other, and nothing else existed. Each launched into a whirlwind of kicks, feints, punches, and parries. Hashirama used his normal style, his movements flowing like water but the impact heavy like earth. He had based this style off of his natural elemental affinities, and it was one of his proudest accomplishments.

To his surprise and delight, however, Madara did not give under his unforgiving punches, but rather dodged gracefully and was rapidly delivering attacks of her own. Her style, he noted, was quick and busy, packed with offense. Her attacks were fast, but almost undetectable at the same time, resembling a fierce wind, and when an actual attack grazed his face, he felt a strange sensation, somewhere between burning and stinging. _Fire, _he thought, _she based her taijutsu off wind and fire, just like I based mine off water and earth. Oh this is too cool! _

Hashirama grinned as he dodged another punch from Madara. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so alive. No one his age had matched his mastery over the shinobi arts, and the only ones who even approached his skill level was Tobirama, despite the fact that she trained in secret. No one else had ever come _close _to being his equal. That is, until now.

After another ten minutes of sparring, he was sure of it. No one had ever lasted this long in combat with him, be it on the battlefield or in training sessions. Madara had to be a prodigy, just like he was. Perhaps that was another reason why her clan leader let her train so much, despite the fact that there were no girl shinobi. All that talent shouldn't be wasted just because of her gender, after all.

Thirty more minutes later, the spar ended with Hashirama knocking Madara to the ground with a well-placed roundhouse kick to her left leg, and she had gotten the wind knocked out of her when she landed. Hashirama was panting heavily, something that had never happened before in any of his training sessions with his peers. Then again the only training sessions where he had ever panted were the lessons he had with tou-sama, and those were just hell, so they didn't really count.

His breathing finally slowing to normal after a few moments, Hashirama began to chuckle. At this point, Madara's breathing had calmed too, and she had sat up and was currently glaring at him from her position on the riverbank. He smiled at this, and couldn't help adding, "How about that? I'd say I won, based on the fact that I'm still standing."

Madara's lips cracked into a smirk, and she said, "Are you, really?" All of a sudden, a sharp pain registered in the back of Hashirama's head, and whatever had delivered the pain had such a great velocity that it shoved him straight from a standing position to landing flat on the shore of the river. "There," Madara declared, "now the both of us are tied. That's fair, isn't it?"

Hashirama slowly sat up, and he rubbed the back of his painfully. _There was definitely a lump swelling up there,_ he decided before turning back to the girl who was still looking at him with a smug smirk affixed on her face. "You're such a crazy person, Madara. Fine then, I accept your verdict. We tied. Just please, _please_ don't throw a rock next time, ok? That really hurt!"

Madara laughed as he said that. "Sure," she replied, "I have to go home now anyways." She looked up at the sky, where the sun now dipped towards the west, and Hashirama noticed how her expression darkened for a fracture of a second. "My family will be worried about me."

"Ok," Hashirama agreed, and unsure of what to say next, he added, "you fight really well, ya know. If you ever chose to, maybe you could be a real official shinobi. You'd be an excellent one." Was that a smirk he just saw cross her face? It was gone so fast he couldn't be sure.

"That was one of the best spars I ever had." Madara admitted. What she said next seemed to take her a great deal of effort: "You…are actually really good. Don't waste your talent." She finished, and with that, she turned and was about to leave, but then a thought registered in Hashirama's mind, and he was calling out the words before he even processed what he was saying.

"Madara! Can we meet again sometime?" He called at her back. She turned around at the sound, and her brows burrowed when she heard his question. There was a tense silence for what seemed like forever, during the entire length of which Madara's expression had not changed from her contemplative frown. At last, she nodded, and Hashirama released a breath he wasn't even aware that he was holding.

"Two days from now, same time." She answered crisply, and then walked away. But just before she turned around, Hashirama glimpsed a smile at the edge of her mouth that she wasn't able to quite hide. When Madara's silhouette had finally disappeared into the forest, he grinned widely and let out a loud whoop that echoed slightly on the empty length of the river. Her last secret smile of joy, he decided, was enough for them to be considered friends. "Two days from now, same time eh?" he murmured to himself, the silly grin still plastered on his face at the prospect of seeing his new friend again. "I won't be late."

* * *

It was early evening by the time he made it back to the Senju compound. He was greeted by a shock of white hair and accusing red eyes. "Where've you been?" Tobirama demanded, "Itama and I have been looking for you everywhere!" Hashirama chuckled and rubbed his head sheepishly. He was about to speak, but was immediately tackled to the ground by a blur of dark brown and white.

"Hashi nii!" Itama exclaimed, cheerfully hugging his older brother, who had gotten the wind knocked out of him. "We're worried about you! Tobi nee wanted to train with you today, but the gate guards said you went outside. And when you didn't come back for dinner we all thought the Uchiha had caught you!"

Hashirama grinned weakly and then promptly shoved Itama off. After he gulped in much needed air that Itama's tackle hug had deprived him of, he said, "I was just training outside the compound. It's quieter out there, and no one could interrupt me during my training sessions. I guess I got carried away with the time. Nothing you guys had to worry about."

Tobirama glared at him for a moment, before rubbing her head and letting out a sigh. "I guess you know what you're doing," she conceded, "but at least tell us next time, ok? Come on, let's go home." Hashirama grinned, grabbed Itama's hand, and started walking home beside his siblings.

"So guys, what did you do today without me around?" Hashirama asked curiously, "Anything I should know about? And remember, I should know about everything because I'm your nii-san!"

"A very irresponsible nii-san at that." Tobirama countered, even going as far to thwack Hashirama on the head to get her point across. "I'll tell you, but only if you promise to be more responsible next time you go wandering. You were lucky tou-sama didn't summon you today, or he would not have been pleased to find out that you left the compound without notifying anyone but the gate guard."

Itama just smiled brightly before voicing his support for Hashirama, "I think Tobi nee is being too serious. Hashi nii is the best! He can handle himself. And if Tobi nee won't tell Hashi nii what we did today, I will!" Still smiling, Itama turned to Hashirama and began to explain what happened during the day. Tobirama seemingly gave up on the disciplinary lecture, seeing as Itama showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. She reluctantly joined in on the explanation after a while, and Hashirama laughed as he watched his two younger siblings argue over some of the more imaginative factors in Itama's retelling of the day.

"I told you Itama, the kunai most definitely did not suddenly transform into an enemy ninja in a poof of smoke, and you most certainly did not proceed to kill him with the legendary Mokuton that no one had manifested in a thousand years! What actually happened was that your aiming was off and you almost accidently hit Yakuta sensei, who then proceeded to chase you around the training field in rage, breaking several trees as a result! Actually improve your aim next time!" Tobirama was still shouting, while Itama defended himself just as angrily.

"It most certainty did! You just didn't see the big enemy ninja because you were busy being beaten up by Yakuta sensei!"

Tobirama bristled, her red eyes snapping sparks, "I most certainly was NOT getting beat up by Yakuta sensei! He is a very nice man to be willing to teach me without telling father. And I wasn't doing that badly! I'd like to see _you _last more than fifteen minutes fighting him!"

Itama stuck out his tongue at his older sister, who glared right back. "You wanna bet on that?" Itama challenged, leaping into a sparring stance.

"Bet you I'd win!" Tobirama replied, flying into her own stance. The two then looked at Hashirama for confirmation, and he nodded in excitement. He was gonna get to watch his siblings spar in the middle of the forest! _This is gonna be so awesome! _He thought joyously. He'd be able to help them with their mistakes after they were finished and get to see what they learned at the same time!

"Alright!" He said happily, and held up his hand, "three, two, one, _hajime!_" he brought his hand down in a chopping motion, indicating the beginning of the spar.

His two siblings immediately rushed at each other, Tobirama opening up with her signature Taijutsu that modeled the water style jutsus she was learning to counter the Uchiha fire release. Itama, on the other hand, simply went with the basic Senju clan taijutu. _Both of them are very fast, _Hashirama observed, _fast is good. I'll make them keep working on that. But also, Itama should start specializing. He's not gonna get anywhere with the Senju basic Taijutsu from now on. WAIT, IS THAT-_

His thoughts were interrupted when Tobirama suddenly jumped back, her hands weaving through a sequence of familiar seals. "Water style: Waterspout no jutsu!" she yelled, and with that, a plume of water shot up from the ground where Itama was, throwing him off guard and sending him into the air. Immediately, Tobirama leaped into the air after her brother, and they landed with Tobirama holding a kunai at Itama's throat. "I win!" She said gleefully. She removed the kunai from Itama's throat and put it away.

Hashirama cheered, "Yes you did Tobi chan, good job!" Then he turned to Itama and said, "Don't look so down, Itama, I'll help you get stronger. You trust nii-san don't you?" Itama looked up, and Hashirama was that he was still a little unsatisfied with his defeat, but then he nodded. After comforting Itama, Hashirama turned to his sister. "Tobirama, where did you learn that water jutsu? A jutsu like that requires an instructor, and I know Yakuta sensei is not a suiton user. Who taught you?"

A rare smile graced his sister's face, and Tobirama replied, "tou-sama saw me training a few days ago. He was mad at first, but when I showed him how good I was, he relented and said that the clan would be willing to accept me as a shinobi as long as I keep progressing like I am now. He taught me this jutsu and told me to show it to him later as a rite of passage and as proof of my talent. I passed the test, so he will be officially integrating me into the shinobi forces of the Senju tomorrow."

Hashirama let out a shout of joy and promptly enveloped both his siblings in a hug. This was just too good! Memories of what Madara had told him flashed through his mind, and he realized that his sister was now exactly on the same route as his new friend. The similarities! _Oh they would totally become best friends! _Hashirama thought gleefully.

In his excitement, Hashirama clapped his hands together.

...three...

..two..

.one.

…and then everything went to hell.

The ground rumbled slightly, and the three siblings only had time to exchange alarmed glances before the ground burst open before Hashirama. A tree sprout sprung into existence and began to grow before their astonished eyes. Along the way, it sprouted leaves, flowers, and even fruits until a tiny fruit tree stood in full bloom, on a patch of earth that had been barren just seconds before.

The Senju siblings stared at the plant that had just sprouted. It now bloomed serenly in the middle of a once bare forest path, as if it had been there for years.

"…" There was a long silence. Even the normally cheery Itama didn't make a sound as the implications of what just happened dawned on the three same thought was running through all their heads:

_A tree sprouting out in seconds in the middle of a bare forest path..._

It was Tobirama who finally connected the dots and broke the silence. "…Brother, were you hiding this from us?" She asked quietly.

"No! I wasn't, I swear!" Hashirama cried, frantically inspecting his hands, "I don't know what happened! I really don't know what happened!"

"Holy Rikudo-sama.." Itama could only say in awe, "…it's the mokuton. If tou-sama finds out…"

Tobirama finally said, "Hashirama nii-san, try what you just did again. I want to make sure it wasn't an accident."

Self consciously, Hashirama clasped his hands together carefully and channeled a little chakra though his palms. Sure enough, another sapling appeared, shorter than the fruit tree that had been created earlier. It was confirmed. The tree was no accident.

Tobirama sighed heavily. "That confirms it," she said wearily, "nii-san, it's the mokuton. The question now is, what will you do about it?"

Hashirama stared silently, almost in horror, at the two trees that had sprung from his chakra, contemplating. "…Don't tell tou-sama yet." He said at last, and he forced down the hysteria that was rising in him. Taking a deep, calming breath, he started again, "You guys both know that my goal is to be stronger than father so I can stop all this nonsensical fighting."

Fleeting memories of a sunset stained with Kawarama's blood flashed through Hashirama's mind, and his resolve hardened. On the day Kawarama died, he had sworn to bring peace to the bloody shinobi world, and that was not going to change. If anything, his conviction was bolstered by the new discovery.

He continued, "It tou-sama finds out that I have the mokuton now, this early…he'll take advantage of it. He'll watch every move I make, monitor everything I experience, and I'll never be able to achieve my dream. Hold on, I know!" He added hastily when he saw Tobirama open her mouth to protest, "I know that he'll find out eventually. Just give me a year or two, so I can perfect it and he can no longer be in full control of where I want to go afterwards. I can be as strong as him by then, if I do it right."

Tobirama obviously didn't like what he just said. "The peace you seek is naïve, brother," she warned, "I don't think you realize how big of a deal your mokuton is. If you can get tou-sama to help you master it, we could defeat the other clans, even the Uchiha. Our family would be safe."

Hashirama looked at her sharply. "Well what do you think I should do, use my Mokuton to massacre all the other clans?!" Images of a sunny river and a girl with wild black hair appeared in his mind, and his jaw tightened. "They're people too, and they don't want war anymore than we do. They just need someone to make them see it!"

Itama looked down, the worry in his eyes evident as he faced the two small trees in the ground. "Nonetheless, tou-sama won't be pleased when he finds out. And maybe you should think about what nee-chan said, Hashi nii-san. I think peace would be nice, but I hope you know what you're doing. The other clans may be alright, but Uchiha…" His voice faltered, and faded away.

Hashirama sighed tiredly, before he patted Itama's head, "You were the one who said I could handle myself, right? We can talk over this later. Go home with Tobirama for now, Itama."

Tobirama just sighed softly and rubbed her forehead for a moment, before she said, "Nii-san, I will take Itama home so tou-sama doesn't get suspicious. You will have to move these trees off the road with your earth affinity and then dump them somewhere inconspicuous. Catch up to us, ok? We can talk philosophies later."

Hashirama nodded in understanding and agreement of his sister's plan. "Itama, follow Tobi nee home, alright?" Itama nodded, and he took Tobirama's hand and started to walk away. Soon he and Tobirama went around a bend in the path and disappeared behind the trees.

Hashirama sighed. As much as he loved his remaining two siblings, sometimes they just didn't understand what he wanted. Peace… he didn't know what it would take to reach it, but he had sworn before Kawarama's grave that he would. And massacring everyone but the Senju with his mokuton was _not _the answer.

His mind swirling with these thoughts, Hashirama carefully lifted the dirt that his two trees were growing in. He walked off the path and deep into the woods of the Senju compound, until he found a suitable bare patch of ground, where he replanted his creations. Returning to the path, he summoned some chakra and fixed the tree holes that had been glaringly suspicious in the middle of the path, smoothing it over until no trace of missing dirt remained.

As he walked home, he wondered whether or not his new friend was in a similar situation wherever she was. With her talent, she was no doubt under a huge ton of pressure from her clan. _Is she like me? _He wondered, _Did she come to the river to escape more than just the war? _His brows furrowed as he recalled what Madara had said of her visits to the river:

_"It's nice out here. I can't come here very often though," she remarked casually, "there's always things to get in the way, like training and such."_

She hadn't been specific at all. What other things besides training? Did she suffer from the pressure of her clan as well? Did she have any siblings to protect, like he did? Was she as tired of all the carnage as he was? Suddenly, he realized that despite meeting the girl for a whole afternoon, all he knew of his new friend was that she was a talented shinobi. _That'll change next time, _he promised himself, _I'll ask her to spar with me again, and then we can talk. Perhaps, after all this time, I can finally find someone who truly understands me._

* * *

**Lot of things going on in that chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it. A big thank you to those of you who faved/reviewed/followed the story. Thanks for your support! I really appreciate it. Updates will be Fridays or Saturdays.**

**Also, for the reviewers who wanted to know whether the ending was sad or happy, I won't say for certain. What I will say though is that the final pairings is HashiMada and IzuTobi (thanks to the brilliant suggestion of Idea . Getthe****) **** and that the romance is reciprocated. Anything more than that will be considered a spoiler, I'm afraid, which I do not want to give. **

**Next chapter will be back to Madara's pov, and we will also see the ideals that eventually form Konoha introduced. All in all, the plot really gets rolling next chapter. Stay tuned! **

**Review please!**


	3. Hopes and Surnames

**Warnings: mild swearing**

* * *

_Arc One: Before the Beginning_

_**Chapter Three: Hopes and Surnames**_

Hashirama was not there when she arrived at the river. Madara supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. After all, they _had _only met each other once, and even though he was the one to have asked for another meeting, he may have deemed it unimportant later.

It never occurred to her that Hashirama might have simply been late.

Madara sighed heavily as she sat down on the riverbank. _It doesn't matter, _she thought to herself fiercely. She refused to acknowledge the heaviness in her gut that she felt upon noticing the fact that Hashirama was not present. _It's just annoyance! There's no way that I'd be disappointed that the idiot didn't show himself! I'm just annoyed that he wasted my time! So there! _She huffed, feeling vindicated that she had proved herself to her own mind.

Then she promptly face-palmed at her own stupidity.

_I'm fighting my own self-consciousness now, and all because of that moron! _That settled it. She was going to kill that dolt if he ever showed up again. He did say this was his favorite stretch of the river after all, so who knows? Maybe she'll meet him again sometime.

Oh well. She was alone at the river, and there was nothing to do. Madara figured she might as well train just so the afternoon wouldn't be totally wasted. Grimly, she allowed her new sharingan swirl to life.

* * *

_***Flashback-**_

_**the night before**__*****_

* * *

The compound was being attacked, she knew that much. What she didn't know was the identity of the enemy, the scale of the attack, and most importantly, the current location of her little brother.

"Izuna!" She yelled, dodging another stray kunai as she waded through the fray of the battle, desperately stretching out her sensory abilities to look for her brother's unique flash of dark blue. The sheer number of chakra signatures on the battlefield was giving her a raging headache, but she couldn't stop. Her brother was in danger, fighting a damned battle all by himself, and she wasn't there to help him. She had to find him, and fast.

"Izuna!" She hollered again, searching with her sensor as well as her eyes. Unfortunately, her brother was a seven year old, and therefore very short. It also did not help Madara that all Uchiha looked extremely similar. She might as well have been searching for a needle in a haystack. A scream-filled, chaotic, burning haystack called a battlefield.

An enemy shinobi leaped before her, screaming a battle cry and swinging his sword down at her head, trying to split her in half. She parried his strike with her tanto almost absentmindedly, her entire consciousness devoted to the chant running through her head of "Find Izuna find Izuna". This man was an obstacle in her way, and she would not spare anyone or anything impeding her on her mission to find her brother.

An uppercut faster than lighting, and the man was bleeding out on the ground before he could even form an expression of shock. She did not give him a second glance, because at the exact moment when her blade had cut through the man's throat, she had sensed—

—a flash of dark blue chakra, pulsing brightly and sporadically with pain.

She was at Izuna's side so quickly it was as if she had teleported. Izuna was facing off with his opponent, both of them standing a little ways off from the main battle.

Her brother had a long deep cut on his arm where his robe sleeve had been severed, plus a few bloody rips on his pant legs. His eyes were bright with pain, and she could see from the tightness of his jaw that he was clenching his teeth. His entire frame was trembling.

Izuna's opponent was tall man who holding a long sword, with a series of strange sheaths on his back. Madara scrutinized him quickly, determining that he was a weapons specialist. No wonder he had managed to hurt Izuna, who was extremely talented with his tanto despite his young age.

However, despite the difference in age, Madara was confident that she could beat him. She had killed plenty of supposedly skilled adults before, and this man would not be an exception. He had also hurt her little brother, and Madara would definitely break him for that. No one who hurt Izuna would be left alive as long as Madara was around.

She gave the man a derisive snort, then turned away from him, ignoring him on purpose. "Are you alright, Izuna?" Her brother nodded, despite the pain he was in. Madara patted him on the head and gave him a tense smile. "That's my otoutou." She said with genuine pride in her voice, before pulling a roll of bandages out of her robe and handing it to her brother.

The man's chakra flared, and Madara swiftly set her tanto into position. Beside her, Izuna had sunk to the ground and was wrapping his many injuries. She gave Izuna one last glance before focusing on the enemy. "Rest a bit, brother. I'll take care of this little issue."

Her opponent snarled in rage, and he leaped forward with his sword at the ready. Madara met him midair with her tanto, and their swords crashed against each other with a flare of sparks in the night. "Not bad for a little girl," the man growled, before spinning his blade around and starting the real attack. Madara just gave the man a belittling smirk.

"This 'little girl' is more than enough to handle you." She mocked before flashing into her own kenjutsu stance, parrying his every blow. As the fight progressed, she noted that the man had lots of interesting tricks, such as a jutsu that caused his shuriken to multiply midair and a tanto-that could split into multiple blades like a fan. However, in the end, the man was not her match and was currently cornered against a building in the compound.

"You're finished!" Madara announced in triumph, but just as she was about to run him through with her sword, the man cracked an eerie smile.

"Not just yet." He intoned, before pulling out several knives tied with wires and making a strange hand seal. The blades rose in the air and their wires interlinked, forming a huge mass of steel that protected the man from Madara's sword. Then the man tugged on the wires and made the weapon cloning seal, and an enormous web of knives began swirling around the man. He laughed wildly and sneered,

"I'll finish you off first, and then kill that runt who's cowering behind you."

The blade web began closing in on Madara. Each of the weapons interwove each other in a confusing manner. There was no way Madara could deflect all the blades with her tanto, and after she was dead, the man would surely kill Izuna, who was still too injured to fight.

Was she really going to lose her last brother here, within the walls of her _own_ clan compound, where he was supposed to be safe?

"**No way in hell."** Madara said quietly. Rage and determination fired through her veins, and she looked up at the man who will surely be simmering in some hellhole after she was done with him. Her eyes widened, a natural response to the pain caused by the pulse of chakra behind her retinas.

The world slowed, almost ground to a stop and Madara saw the four quivering steel wires locked in the web, connecting to the man's hands. Her tanto seared through them with a sharp snap, and the web collapsed.

The man behind the controls seemed to be frozen in shock as he stared at the tangle of metal wires and blades. He lifted his eyes slowly and met her steady gaze. Madara walked over calmly, keeping her new glowing red irises fixed on the man's face, memorizing his expression of terror and awe.

"Have fun in hell, bastard." She intoned calmly, before flashing her tanto and slitting his throat. Giving the man's bleeding corpse a disdainful glance, she turned back to her brother, who was looking at her with eyes full of warmth and admiration.

"Your eyes, nee-chan! You did it! They're definitely sharingan!" Izuna cheered as Madara walked back to him. "And thank you for helping me…" he added quietly, his eyes meeting the ground in embarrassment, "…even though I shouldn't have needed it." Madara smiled and knelt down next to her brother, her bright red sharingan meeting his normal black eyes.

"You never have to thank me for helping you, silly," she said, ruffling Izuna's hair, "that's my job. You're just supposed to sit here and look pretty. _I _get to handle the killing." She ended in a teasing tone. Izuna whacked her on the arm lightly in return, and the two shared a weak laugh. The only kind of laugh they could possibly share in such a situation. _How sad, _Madara though, _we're seven and ten, and here we are making a joke about who gets to kill more people. Like it's an honor or something._

Sighing, Madara wrapped her arm around Izuna's shoulders, helping him stand up shakily. He leaned on her shoulder heavily as the two walked back to the main battlefield.

The last few screams were fading away as Madara's clansmen finished off their final opponents. However, the silent battlefield spoke of too high a price. Although there were plenty of enemy corpses all over the field, Madara only saw the bodies of Uchiha. Some were mangled and burned beyond recognition. A familiar bile rose in her throat, and she shoved it back down. It would not do to throw up and act like a weak, squeamish girl here. She had to be strong, both for Izuna and for her clansmen who lost loved ones.

There was only one good thing that came out of the battle. As the Uchiha shinobi turned towards Izuna and Madara though, she saw the look in their eyes shift. Previously, they had always looked at her with mild disdain, as if she were an annoying bug they just could not kill. Now, though, their gazes were different. Her fellow shinobi gazed at the striking red pinwheels in her eyes and nodded to her, acknowledging her place amongst them. They had realized at last that she was an Uchiha shinobi, and that she had a right to be at the battlefield as much as any of them.

At last, Tajima came through the ranks of Uchiha, inspecting the remnants of his shinobi. His expression was grim, and he only nodded briefly upon seeing the sharingan in Madara's eyes. She clenched her teeth in anger at his deliberate show of ignorance. He didn't care that the spinning red orbs in his daughter's eyes came at the almost sacrifice of both his remaining children's lives.

She squeezed Izuna's hand tightly as she watched her father walk around all his remaining shinobi, quietly issuing orders. Soon there were men walking around, carrying the dead away on stretchers. Others scrounged on the enemies' bodies, picking off weapons, packs, and anything else that could be deemed useful. Women and the youngest children had come out to the battlefield, and some were wailing over the bodies of dead fathers, husbands, brothers.

And at the end of it all, her father appeared before her and Izuna at last. "I see you have finally unlocked the sharingan, Madara." He said, "Good. Perhaps there is some hope for you after all. And as for you," he shifted his gaze over to Izuna, scrutinizing his bandaged limbs, "…do better next time." He said coldly, ignoring Izuna's flinch and Madara's darkening expression. As he walked away, Madara heard him amplify his voice with chakra and broadcast to the rest of the clan, "The Uchiha live to fight another day!"

Madara felt utterly sick. Her brother tugged at her robe, and a wave of sorrow and rage seared her heart when she looked at him. Her brother's small frame seemed to have shrunk even further after hearing their father's harsh words, and his eyes were very bright with what she suspected to be unshed tears.

His words broke her down even further. "…Why, Nee-chan?" was all he said, but she could hear his underlying questions. _Why does our own father not sympathize? Why do we have to fight and kill people? Why do our clansmen have to lose the people they love? Why all this madness? _

She knelt down and pulled her brother into a hug, an act of softness exceedingly rare for her. "I don't know Izuna," she whispered, hugging him like her life depended on it, "but there will be peace one day. I'll protect you, and you'll be there to see it. I swear on my life."

* * *

_***End Flashback**__*_

* * *

Madara had been skipping rocks for the past fifteen minutes. They were all making it across, much to her relief and happiness. She chose not to notice the fact that she was cheating by throwing the stones with her sharingan activated. Just as she was about to throw another rock, though, her sensory preceptors tingled, and she sensed an unfamiliar chakra signature. Frowning, she stood up briskly and walked away from the riverbank, deactivating her sharingan as she did so.

The new chakra source was a little bigger than hers, yet it did not feel threatening. It pulsed with so much life and vitality that it left Madara in awe. Even though she knew that chakra was the life force of every living thing, she had never felt any chakra practically shine with vibrancy like this one did. Hurriedly, Madara concealed herself behind a tree and waited for the owner of the chakra to come into her field of vision.

When the same bowl cut, baggy clothed dolt came into her sight her eyes almost bugged out. _What in the name of Kami?! _Madara thought to herself wildly. _When did that idiot get such vibrant chakra? But then again, _she surmised, calming herself down, _I did neglect to memorize his chakra signature the last time we met. And what is he __**doing**__?! _

Said idiot, commonly known as Hashirama, had looked around the river, and apparently seeing no one, had sat down and was currently grass whistling with a reed. However that works. _Why am I saddled with such an unobservant moron? _Madara complained to herself as she stepped out of her hiding place and headed to the riverbank. Her left eyebrow twitched when the annoying whistling did not stop, and she had half a mind to strangle Hashirama with his reed as she approached.

Fortunately, Hashirama had sensibly stopped the whistling as soon as he saw Madara. "Madara! It's so nice to see you!" He remarked in a cheerful manner.

Madara, however, was not in a very accommodating mood. "You moron, you kept me waiting for fifteen minutes! I thought you weren't coming or something and that I was wasting my life away by bothering to show up!"

She sat down beside him with a huff, before her irritation increased upon seeing the boy's depression façade. "Oh, I've had enough with this," she muttered to herself, before yanking him up by his arm. "You get depressed too easily," she lectured her friend matter-of-factly, "you might as well spar with me to get rid of that bratty mood of yours."

Despite her grudging tone of voice, Madara was actually very eager for a spar. The last match she had against this boy was hands down the best sparring match she ever had. Not even Izuna could match Hashirama's ability to keep her entertained in a Taijutsu only match. Now that she knew Hashirama's chakra was so vibrant and with her recent gain of the sharingan just the previous night, she was more eager than ever to test her abilities against him.

Much to her joy, Hashirama agreed to her offer without a bit of hesitation. In fact, he seemed to have looked forward to their spar as much as she did over the course of the last two days. "Let's begin, Madara!"

* * *

"You've gotten better." Madara heard her friend remark, as the two of them sat side by side on the riverbank after another intense sparring session, which ended up with Hashirama as the winner. She scowled slightly, as the results of the last spar had been the same before she, _ahem _altered the results a little.

"Of course." she snapped back, a little offended that Hashirama thought she had just been sitting on her ass for two days. Seriously, and she just fought a battle last night too! "I haven't been lazing around, you know."

Hashirama laughed, and Madara dully noted that his laugh was just like his chakra, warm and fully of life. She was again reminded of Izuna's smile. _Perhaps that's why I like hanging around him, _she speculated, _he's always so lively, like a child. Helps me forget about all the bloody wars. _

"Sorry about being late, anyhow," Hashirama was apologizing, "I wanted to wish my little brother luck on his second mission outside the compound. It took a little longer than I expected. Hehe…" he laughed sheepishly and rubbed his head, "So yeah, sorry."

Madara smiled and accepted the apology, before something registered in her head, "Did you say you have a little brother?" She asked out of curiosity. _Does he care for him as much as I do for Izuna? _

"Yep!" Hashirama answered, and Madara was mildly disturbed at how his eyes seemed to be glazed over with pride and affection. "I have a little brother and a little sister. My little brother is just the cutest little brother ever! He tries so hard to be good, and he idolized me! Oh, and guess what! My father is letting my little sister become a ninja too! She's going to be just like you now! Oh you two should totally meet each other someday, you could be her role model!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold it for a sec," Madara exclaimed, "calm down and talk normally, would you?" She could feel her ears bleed from Hashirama's very long, very loud, and all-in-all very painful rant of joy. "I heard you." She smiled wryly. _Well, that obviously answers my question. If his enthusiasm and that puppy eyes expression is anything to go by, he certainly loves them a lot. _

Hashirama eventually came down from his high, much to Madara's relief. Then he asked, "Do you have siblings?"

Madara nodded, smiling when she thought of Izuna, "yeah, I have one. He's a good little brother."

Hashirama, however, just had to keep pressing. "Only one sibling?" He asked, confusion written all over his face. Madara's expression darkened, but the she supposed she should have expected it. After all, in those days, people tended to have at least three children. Honestly, she really didn't want to answer. _But if I lie and say I only have Izuna, does that mean I'm invalidating their existence? The fact that they once lived in this world with me?_

Steeling herself, she said quietly, "…I was one of five."

Madara felt slightly uncomfortable as she watched Hashirama's expression fall, but it couldn't be helped. How else was she supposed to answer the question in a sensitive way?

"…Oh." His answer was very short, and very small. It was followed by a long silence that Madara didn't know how to break.

It was Hashirama who finally rubbed his head and spoke up: "Well, I guess I'm a little better off. I've only lost one brother."

_Only. _Madara felt sick as she listened to his words. He's _only _lost one. As if losing a brother at all was a fortunate thing.

"…What a sick world we live in." She finally commented, followed by a string of bitter, mocking laughter. Hashirama looked confused, so she elaborated, "We live in a world where losing _only _one brother is a fortunate thing. Hell, we shouldn't have to lose any brothers at all!"

Her friend's eyes widened, and Madara did not know whether it was from shock or surprise. She supposed it was a mix of both. When he found his voice at last, however, his tone was extremely serious, far from his usually bubbly way of speech, "How are we ever going to change this madness?"

Madara looked up in surprise, and their eyes met. Hashirama's gaze lacked its usual buoyancy, which was replaced by an almost desperate determination. _He's serious about this, _she realized, _he'd go to any lengths necessary to find the answer to that question. _Allowing a hint of steel to creep into her eyes, she replied, "Something no shinobi will ever do. In order to have trust and then peace, we have to show each other what we really think. But shinobi's lives are built on illusions and lies. None of them would be willing to do that."

Hashirama looked down. His frown was so deep and his eyebrows were so tightly furrowed that Madara figured he must be in pain. When he looked back up though, Madara saw that the fire in his eyes had not diminished a single bit. "Know what the other truly thinks?" He repeated, looking Madara in the eye. In return, she solemnly nodded once, never breaking eye contact.

"Yeah," she confirmed, "but what are you going to do? Divulging secrets, especially clan related ones in this time is equivalent to death. I can tell you my most sensitive familial experiences, and you can do the same, but in the end, we're just two fools who don't even know the other's surnames."

To Madara's surprise, Hashirama did not slump into his usual depression. Instead, a wild, crazy grin spread across his face, an expression that Madara would later dub as his "sign of insanity", a grin that would show up only when he was about to do something utterly suicidal and crazy. However, Madara was still very unaware of Hashirama's crazier tendencies, and therefore did not recognize the warning signs.

"Well then, Madara, what if I _**tell you my full name**_?"

Madara's eyes widened, and she leapt to her feet. "What are you talking about?!" She snapped, "If I find out that you're from an enemy clan, I'll be bound by my clan rules to try my utmost best to kill you!"

Hashirama's grin did not fade, and he replied easily, "We're alone here. There aren't any clan mates breathing down your neck. Or mine, for that matter. The consequences are the same for me as well as for you, but there's no one here to reinforce that, is there? You could just as easily choose not to kill me, and no one would ever know."

"Man, I knew you were a dork when I first met you, but this is just insane! " Madara was utterly fuming at this point. She couldn't believe it. The nerve of this boy! "If you were from an enemy clan, it would be a betrayal to all my clansmen who died because of your family if I didn't attack you! And you might be a spy, or you might be setting me up for an ambush, or hell it could be all of the above!"

In return, Hashirama shrugged his shoulders. He replied, "I've met you both these times, and we've sparred. No offense to your abilities, but right now I'm a little better at you in Taijutsu, and I could have killed you both those times you were trying to catch your breath afterwards. I obviously didn't, and you didn't try to stab me in the back while we were skipping stones either. Therefore, I don't think we're out to harm each other. You won't admit it, but you secretly want to agree to my decision, don't you?"

"You, you, UGH!" Madara face palmed in frustration. Why didn't this guy get it?! It was a traitorous act, and her family was all she had left. How could she possibly betray their trust like this? "My family is all I have left. How could I go against them like this?" She finally said, scrambling for something, anything to stop Hashirama from going through with his ridiculous suggestion.

"You could add me to the list of people you have as a friend, after I tell you my surname," Hashirama suggested gleefully, looking as if he already predicted Madara's eventual capitulation, "Oh, and you're free to keep your own name a secret after this. The idea is insane after all, if you put it in your words."

Madara looked to the heavens in despair. Why oh why does all the craziness have to land on her? Heaving a sigh, she snapped, "Turn around for a moment."

"What?" was the confused reply.

"Just do it!" She snarled in frustration, and when Hashirama complied, she activated her sharingan along with her sensory capabilities and gave the surrounding area the largest scan she could possibly manage. When both abilities confirmed that there was no one in a twenty pace vicinity but Hashirama and her, she reluctantly deactivated her dojutsu and informed Hashirama that it was all right to turn around.

He did do nervously, looking at her all the time, like a child learning how to walk and fearful of being scolded by his parent. She crossed her arms and sighed, "Just get it over with."

Hashirama's crazy grin came back full force, and he teased, "Don't run away screaming, okay?"

Madara just snorted, "Whatever, dolt. Don't hurt yourself trying to say your name right."

He laughed at that, and then he leaped into a standing position. Madara faced him unwillingly, looking him in the eyes, silently begging for the whole situation to just be over and done with. Finally, her friend spoke.

"I'm Hashirama _Senju, _and its really nice to meet you again here at this lovely river!"

Madara face-palmed at his anticlimactic ending. "Way to ruin the drama, dolt." She grumbled. So, her friend was a Senju. The very clan that had caused Madara to lose her mother and three of her four brothers. The Uchiha clan's arch enemy. Just her luck. She was actually starting to enjoy his company too! _Stupid, stupid Senju, just when I thought I could have another friend!_

"…Be glad that I was convinced by you not to gut you like a fish." Madara concluded, turning away. He was a Senju. She had been convinced not to hurt him, but he was a Senju, and she was an Uchiha. There was no way they could continue to associate with each other. She was about to walk away, but she found her path home blocked by Hashirama. "What?" She snapped, irritated, "I was convinced not to hurt you, and that was it. I didn't promise to be your friend or anything, _Senju._" She spat the name like a curse.

Hashirama's grin had finally faded, but that _damnable _fire in his eyes that had caused all this trouble in the first place was back. "That's just my last name. It doesn't define me or my personality," he said, and Madara snorted.

"Kami-sama help all the Senju if they all went into random depressions like you do," She responded curtly, and attempted to move past him. She scowled when he got in her way again. "What do you want?!" She finally snapped at him.

Hashirama had the nerve to look hurt, "I just want you to see that not all Senju are out for blood. Or out to massacre your family. I know I'm not. Can't you see? During the time that we played together, I never seriously hurt you or anything. Heck, the only time where there was any serious hurting going on around here was when you threw that rock at my head last time. That really effing hurt!"

Madara didn't know whether to laugh or snap at his ridiculousness. "You're a Senju, though," she repeated, still unwilling to let go of her conviction, "you're my clan's chief enemy. I'm an Uchiha. There's no way we can get along."

Hashirama, however, seemed to have only picked up on one part of the conversation. "You told me your last name!" He exclaimed, delighted, "So you have to trust me some, right? This proves it!"

She sighed loudly. _How am I ever going to get my point across to this idiot? _she complained in her mind, before trying to explain for the last time, "Your family killed three of my brothers and my mother. My family killed your brother and possibly one of your parent figures—"

"—mother." Hashirama supplied helpfully.

"Exactly. You expect me to just get over that?"

"No—"

"Well there you have it—"

"—but you can try."

She stared at him in outright shock. Honestly, she didn't know what to say to get her point across anymore. However, before she could open her mouth again, Hashirama elaborated:

"I'm really sorry about what happened with your family, I honestly am, but I can't help you bring the dead back to life, and if you keep killing my family and I keep killing yours we're just gonna all end up dead." He concluded logically, and tapped his chin.

Continuing, he said, "Trust has to start between one of the generations in order for there to be peace, and we could start it. I trust that you will not hurt me, and I'm pretty sure you believe it, even if you're unwilling to admit it. So how about it?"

Madara stared at the boy before her in awe. Had anyone told her yesterday that it was possible for a Senju to sound logical and hope inspiring enough to convince an Uchiha, she would have sent them to the medics immediately for a psyche examination. But as much as she hated to concede, she had to admit that Hashirama's logic made sense. And his goal of peace was so tempting...

...

..

.

…To have Izuna live safely under a warm roof with a loving family, wasn't that what she had promised him would happen one day? So what if she was betraying her father that didn't even care for his children? And her other clansmen were sure to want this too. She had seen their pallid, worn faces and heard the talk behind closed doors. And Hashirama was true in his analysis. He had never seriously hurt her, despite having had an ample number and chances. Maybe, just maybe…

It was in that moment that she came to a decision.

"...Alright." She said quietly, sounding defeated and tired even to her own ears. But in her heart, a tiny seed of hope long dead had started to sprout again, nurtured by Hashirama _Senju's _earnest dream of trust, and of peace. She only prayed that her fragile hope was not misplaced.

Before her, Hashirama's grin reappeared, except this time it was warmer, brighter, and far less maniacal. "Knew you'd come around eventually," he teased, and Madara smiled despite herself, "so...shake on it?"

She looked down at the hand he offered. "…Hand…shake?" She repeated uncertainly, unsure if she heard him right, "We're not signing a treaty or anything, Hashirama."

"Doesn't mean we can't shake on it! Besides, shaking my hand would symbolize your conviction in your agreement, right? Come on, its just a handshake!" he exclaimed when he saw Madara's hesitance.

Madara heaved sigh of agreement, and reluctantly took his hand. Hashirama's grip was firm, and his hand was very warm. _Full of vitality, just like his chakra, _she thought, and a smile flickered on her lips almost semi-consciously. She gave their connected hands a short, brief shake before letting go.

Hashirama was still grinning, and was warming up for a full scale speech: "After we shake, we'll be bound by a promise to trust each other and to not tell any of our clansmen, even our siblings, for safety reasons. And we'll promise to continue to meet here every week on this day, unless one of us has a mission or something. As for that, well, we can just tell each other beforehand. It would be the first step to peace between the Senju and the Uchiha!"

"You've got this so well planned out, I'm almost afraid I stepped into a conspiracy." Madara commented dryly, gazing at her new _Senju _friend who was still rambling away.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon passed without incident, mostly Madara listening to Hashirama's eager tales ranging from his siblings (how cute Tobirama and Itama are) to his opinion on the weather (it's awfully warm for summer) to his general view on the world (which was very idealistic). It was not until the sun had dipped the horizon and everything was bathed in reddish orange light did Madara decide that it was time for her to go.

"I hate to interrupt your latest exploits into the extraordinary, Hashirama, but I have to leave. And seriously keep on track next time, okay? Honestly, I bet that if I didn't have to leave, you would've stayed here until the moon rose." Madara grumbled, getting up from her seat on the riverbank and dusting off her robes.

Her eccentric friend grinned and said," Oh wow, you're right! I'm so sorry I didn't notice the time! But yeah, have a safe trip home, and I'll see you two days from now. Remember, you promised! And don't tell anybody! And—"

"I know all this already, Hashirama." Madara interrupted, a hint of amusement creeping into her voice.

Hashirama laughed, the sound rolling around the stretch of river. It was as warm and carefree and joyful as any laugh could get, and Madara realized that she loved that sound. His laugh would always remind her of his, no, _their_ dream for peace. _Yes, it is our dream now, _she thought to herself._ We shared it, took the first steps towards it, and we'll make sure everything works out. I will for Izuna's sake, and he will for…_ She frowned when she realized that she was missing Hashirama's reason to hope for peace.

"Hashirama," she started, drawing her friend's attention, "why do you want peace so badly?"

There was no hesitation in his answer. "I swore before my younger brother's grave."

She nodded, remembering her promise to Izuna just the night prior. "Both promises for the sake of our brothers, I see…" she remarked, "something we have in common, I guess."

At last, she turned away from the little section of riverbank that had now become her safe haven. "Take care, Senju Hashirama." She said simply, before walking towards the shadowy woods, back to the darkness of war and blood chaos, away from the light source she had just found.

She leaped into the first tree, picking up speed as she headed back to the Uchiha compound. However, she still managed to catch one last, faraway call from the riverbank.

"You too, Uchiha Madara!"

* * *

**Whew, again, lots going on in that chapter. Hope it makes up for the lateness. **

**Ok, first of all, a huge thanks you to those of you who reviewed/followed/faved. Seriously, guys, those made my week and kept me motivated. Really, thank you so much for those, you guys are the best.**

**Secondly, I'm so sorry that this is so late. I'm gonna have to extend the dates for myself, so updates will be Saturday or Sunday from now on. That way I can actually keep my promise. **

**Lastly, if you have an FF account, please please review with said account, since I would love to reply to your reviews and personally thank each of you for taking time out of your day to read this. ****I'll stop rambling now. **

**Next chapter, our favorite Senju and Uchiha duo are going to come up with the idea of Konoha, and their respective families _finally_ start to get suspicious. Stay tuned! **

**Review please! **


	4. Planning Dreams

**Warnings: mild swearing**

* * *

_Arc One: Before the Beginning_

**_Chapter Four: Planning Dreams_**

A year passed, then two. They fell into a routine. Every week, Hashirama would wake up and train in the Senju compound until midday before heading to the river. Madara would show up soon after. These meetings became his solace, a place where he could utterly relax and forget about war for just one afternoon. Every week, Madara would be there to discuss their dream, a dream that became more substantial with each passing meeting. And as he continued these meetings, reality was left further and further behind.

They could make this work. Together, he and Madara would somehow bring peace to the war-strafed land and to their respective clans. Somehow, his little siblings and Madara's little brother would be able to live in peace together. Someday, he and Madara could be friendly with each other in the open. Somehow, someday… and he dreamed on.

When he received news late one night that his little brother was being attacked outside the compound, he was too stunned to respond. Tobirama had to repeat herself three times for the message to sink in. His little brother, attacked by Uchiha? In his mind, all members of the Uchiha had slowly been assimilated into Madara's face, and they all wore her now increasingly common smile.

A part of him refused to believe that the Uchiha would attack Itama, would attack an eight year old child on a solo mission. Even as he was racing through the woods to find his beloved younger brother, he could not wipe Madara's smile off the nameless Uchiha shinobi's faces.

When an Uchiha attacked and Tobirama practically ordered him to keep going and find Itama, he was secretly relieved that his sister had volunteered to fight. If he was the one to fight and stall for time, he didn't think he could have attacked at all. He wouldn't be able to face Madara again with the blood of one of her clansmen on his hands. Even then, some part of him still held on to the hope that _maybe it was a misunderstanding-maybe Itama wasn't attacked by Uchiha-maybe he's still alive…_

It wasn't until he approached the forest clearing that the denial crumbled down. There was no need to enter said clearing to know what had happened to his last little brother. The pungent smell of blood threatened to suffocate him. Ragged, hopeless, he dragged himself across the clearing, following the rivulet of red through the tall grass and around the boulder to face the inevitable.

Itama had always been short and scrawny, like a scarecrow made of hay, easy to burn. Slumped against a boulder three times as large as himself, he looked even smaller in death. His throat had been slit, and his head was bowed against his chest.

A quick death. At least that meant the Uchiha shinobi weren't heartless. They did not torture his brother for information like they had for some of his other clansmen. His brother's body was still quite intact, and if it wasn't for the telltale spray of blood behind Itama, Hashirama could have thought his brother was sleeping.

Slowly, gently, he gathered Itama's tiny form into his arms, using his sleeves to carefully wipe away the blood on his brother's body. He cradled his brother to his chest, cooing to him softly, as he always would when Itama was but a baby and he a mere five year-old. But this this time, his beloved little brother would never open his big, dark eyes and smile at him. He would stay silent, sleeping forever in Hashirama's arms.

As his throat burned and his vision blurred with tears, Hashirama knew that he could daydream no longer. Peace was still attainable, but he was running out of time. Itama's death dragged him down from the paradise that he had envisioned, slamming him to the ground.

The return to reality was harsh.

* * *

The funeral took place in the morning, and Hashirama could barely get himself to go. The shocking stabs of grief from the previous night were gone, replaced by a persistent, throbbing ache in his skull that pulsed in time with the faint beats of his heart. For the sake of following placating his father, he refrained from mourning openly before all the funeral attenders.

He did so privately, as soon as the attending Senju had dispersed and he was left alone. The world faded to white, leaving just Hashirama, the earth beneath his feet, and a short pillar of stone that bore his brother's name. He slowly collapsed to his knees before the grave marker, gently patting the smooth surface as he would normally pat Itama's head. A faint, nostalgic smile flitted across his face as he recalled beautiful days spent teasing and playing with his little brother, even as tears seeped from his eyes and trickled down his cheeks.

He sat for the longest time, replaying as many happy memories of Itama as his mind could possibly conjure, long after the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon had risen. At last, he sighed and stood up. "I have to go now, Itama," he said softly, a faint, sad smile appearing on his face, "I'm really sorry, but I don't want Tobi or me to join your too soon. I hope Kawa's keeping you company wherever you are. But before I go…"

He stooped and hugged the stone pillar that bore Itama's name. It was childish and naïve, and the cold stone a far cry from his little brother's warm, chubby form, but he wanted to believe that somewhere in heaven, Itama was feeling his hug. He squeezed the pillar tighter like his life depended on it, pouring every bit of love and affection he had into the action, and he closed his eyes. And for the briefest moment, a warm presence wrapped around him, returning his hug. It was enough.

He let go.

"…Good bye," he finally said, and he had to leave now, before he lost control and began to cry again. "I love you, Itama." The tremor in his voice wasn't as faint as he would have liked, but it was enough. He bowed at the grave deeply, as was customary to pay respect to the dead, and then left as fast as his feet could carry him.

He sprinted all the way to his house, rushing into the garden before flinging himself in the midst of the rose patch. Ever since he attained his mokuton, the presence of plant life had always calmed him, and now he needed it more than ever to dispel the stifling after effects of the graveyard. He sat in the roses cross-legged, breathing in the sweet aroma of the flowers, even as the thorns hid themselves in his presence and leaves curled around him in an attempt at comfort.

He sat amidst the blooms, soothing his agitated emotions until he was once again breathing evenly. Feeling calmer, he stood up, thanking the rose bush in a low tone before walking back into his house.

Tobirama was waiting for him at the entryway. Her arms were crossed, but her gaze was calm and her tone was softer than normal. "Tou-sama's not coming home tonight due to paperwork. We should have a talk with this opportunity, brother." She said quietly. He was too tired to disagree. After he entered, she quietly shut the door, cloaking the room in comforting darkness. She sat down on the wooden floor, gesturing for Hashirama to do the same. He obeyed.

"It wasn't your fault, nii-san," she began, getting straight to the point, "the Uchiha were attacking and Itama was outnumbered. There was nothing you or I could do. We found out too late."

With a weary sigh, Hashirama shifted so he was facing his sister. He really didn't want to talk about this right now. "I found out too late, and I wasn't fast enough to save him, even though I never even fought. You even fought some shinobi for me, just in the hope that I would be quick enough to save Itama. I couldn't. How could this not be my fault?" He asked, hoping to end the conversation right there, before his sister could make him question the validity of the Uchiha. Of Madara.

Tobirama, however, had other ideas. "Brother, it wasn't you who killed Itama. If those Uchiha hadn't attacked, none of this would have happened. I tracked the squad that killed Itama for a time, and there were five of them. It was five against one brother! And judging from their footsteps, they were all adults too!"

Her voice did not rise, but Hashirama could sense the fury that reverberated in her speech. Tobirama continued, "And do you know what the Uchiha I was fighting told me? He said they surrounded Itama, cornered him to that rock, and then slit his throat with a tanto. He looked pretty damn happy when he said it too, and then he went on to say that all Senju are scum and should be eliminated. I killed that bastard the same way he said they killed Itama, by slitting his throat. Poetic justice, huh?"

"At least they didn't torture him." Hashirama said quietly, interrupting what could only be classified as Tobirama's classic rage rant. He saw his sister flash him a look full of shock, and he hurried on before she could interrupt, "Like you said, they were five to one. They could have easily interrogated Itama for information, and both of us know what the word interrogation means in the shinobi world. But they didn't. They only killed him."

"I honestly don't believe what I'm hearing, Hashirama!" Tobirama interjected, disbelief evident in her voice. "You, of all people, defending the Uchiha clan that just killed Itama? In fact, most of our casualties result from Uchiha confrontations! And if you're defending them because you still believe in alliances and peace, well I hope Itama's death knocked you awake! All Uchiha are stuck up, egotistical killing machines, and none of them will listen to your dream! You're too naïve for your own good sometimes, brother."

_Not Madara, _Hashirama thought defiantly. She had listened to him. Hell, she even shared his sentiments! It was his own family who refused to comply with peace, Tobirama being a prime example. Meanwhile, one of their sworn enemies, an Uchiha girl nonetheless, was perfectly willing to seek peace! Heck, she had even agreed to continue meeting him despite him being a Senju. If that wasn't a gesture of trust on Madara's part, then Hashirama didn't know what _was._

But of course, Hashirama couldn't let his sister know that he had been seeing an Uchiha for the past two years, no matter how exceptional she was. So instead, he swallowed his refutations and mumbled, "Maybe you're right." His sister softened considerably, and the hard look in her red eyes dissolved.

"I know Itama's death is hard on you, nii-san. It's hard for me too, even if I don't look it." A wan smile appeared on her pale face, easily visible even in the gloom of the house, and she continued, "I admit, peace does sound like a wonderful idea, but it's just that. An idea. None of the shinobi will negotiate for such a thing right now, brother. Also, the Uchiha killed both Kawarama and Itama, so they have the blood of both my younger brothers on their hands. To me, that is unforgivable. Please be real, nii-san. There's currently no way we could be peaceful, and thinking that way could get you killed."

"I know." Hashirama responded, listlessly giving his sister the first half of the correct answer. The second half of the answer, which would be something along the lines of "I won't mention the idea of peace again" would never come from his mouth. Tobirama seemed to realize this after a minute of silence, and with a sigh of resignation, she stood up.

"Just promise you won't do anything stupid, ok?" She finally asked, and Hashirama knew that this was his sister's way of saying "I care about you" without actually saying the words. A warm, genuine smile showed on his face for the first time that day, and he nodded. Tobirama's tense shoulders relaxed, and her mood visibly brightened as she walked away to her bedroom.

As Hashirama lay on his futon that night, he pondered the current state of events. His sister would probably never know that her perfect older brother was meeting with a sworn clan enemy for almost an two years. With her current hatred of all things Uchiha, she most likely wouldn't be very understanding either.

Hashirama himself had mixed feelings regarding Itama's death. On one hand, the Uchiha _had _killed his brother, but at the same time, hadn't his family killed three of Madara's brothers? Fair was fair. Both sides had spilled blood. While he was devastated and grieving over Itama, a member of Madara's family must also be weeping over the dead Uchiha shinobi that Tobirama had killed. As he had said to his friend in the past, if neither side chose to stop first, the killing would just continue and eventually everyone would be dead. Peace had to be established, if only for the sake of the dead on both sides.

Another problem was that despite his weekly meetings with Madara, he didn't really know where their friendship was headed. So far, they just dreamed, but there was no action being done, no plan in the making. At the same time, their bond could never be revealed lest they be accused of treason. Simultaneously, as soon as one of their clans changed compound locations or journeyed far away due to hiring, they wouldn't be able to meet anymore.

What Hashirama did know though, was that he would never sell her out to his own clan. At the same time, they had to come up with a feasible plan for peace. Itama's death and Tobirama's anger told him that while he and his friend were dreaming, the rest of the world was still busy hating, maiming, and killing. He and Madara would have to plan long term in order to make their dream a reality.

Hashirama smiled and snuggled deeper into his blankets when he thought of his friend. He had a meeting with Madara tomorrow, a time that couldn't be more perfect. He'll tell her everything that he realized today, and they'll come up with a plan.

Together, they **_would_** make it work.

* * *

He had finally managed to beat Madara to the river. When he arrived, the sun was just peeking over the treetops, casting the barest shimmer on the water. He scanned the area; no sign of his friend.

Hashirama plopped down on the riverbank and made himself comfortable. Madara wouldn't be here until midday, and it was only morning now. He had some time to himself.

Closing his eyes, Hashirama stretched out his chakra and connected to the nearby plants, immersing himself in their life force. The feeling was incredible; he could feel the energizing sunlight, the refreshing water both from the river and the ground, and the rustling of the leaves almost formed a conscience in the back of his head. He had only tried this twice before, and each time he could've _sworn _the trees were trying to say something to him.

He stretched out his chakra, reaching for the conscience he sensed in the rustling leaves, and suddenly there was a freefalling sensation, his stomach rising to his throat—

_There was a boy and a girl by the river, skipping stones. He shifted his weakening body, branches creaking with the movement. The girl frightened him. Her fiery chakra was immensely prevalent, and she carried a faint scent of smoke. Everything about her screamed of fire. The very thing that trees like him feared most._

_The boy on the other hand had the most welcoming chakra he had ever felt. He was the exact opposite of the girl. The girl was born to destroy his brethren while the boy breathed life into them, yet they were laughing and smiling like best friends. He was surprised that the two could even walk side by side. _

Hashirama gasped at the sudden influx of memories and emotions that were not his. The girl and boy in the images he just saw were Madara and himself, without a doubt. The rustling of leaves had gotten louder, livelier, almost as if the tree were laughing at him.

_**I am.**_

Startled, Hashirama let out an unmanly squeak that he instantly decided didn't happen. His chakra connection with the trees snapped, and he whipped his head around wildly to try and find the speaker.

Something grazed his leg, and he let out another yelp of surprise. His eyes flashed down, and he spotted a reed that was innocently brushing his sandals. Hashirama glared at the offending plant.

_**I'm sorry, Lord Hashirama, but I couldn't help it. Your reactions are too funny.**_

The tone of the voice was different this time, cheerier, squeakier. Hashirama gave up looking for the speaker and decided to just reply and pretend that absolutely nothing abnormal was happening. "Who are you?" He asked resignedly.

_**I am the reed that just brushed your sandals.**_

_**And I'm the tree to your left. **_Added a deeper, mellower voice.

He blinked slowly once, twice. "…Plants can talk?" He asked dumbly. There was a long rustle of leaves that Hashirama interpreted as plant laughter.

_**We can talk and move, but only you will sense it. **_

"Is this because of my mokuton?" Hashirama ventured a guess.

_**Indeed. That last mokuton user a thousand years ago could talk to us at will. Then again, he had someone to mentor him and inform him of the ability. Since you had no one to teach you, we had to bide our time. Fortunately, patience is something trees have in spades. **_

The reed interjected, _**It's been a thousand years since we plants could speak to someone. We're really glad that you figured out how to communicate with us in the end though! Every plant worldwide acknowledges you as their lord and creator and will gladly fight for you, even if you order them into poison and fire. **_

Hashirama fidgeted uncomfortably. "Wouldn't that kill them though?"

The reed chuckled, a swishing sounds, and said, _**As long as you put enough chakra into them, they cannot die.**_

_**Speaking of fire, **_the tree interrupted, _**why were you walking with **_**her**_**?**_

"Her? Oh, you mean Madara."

_**Yes, that girl, Madara, has the strongest fire chakra I've every felt, and I've been around for quite some time. She is born to destroy my brethren. Her fires could take down a forest once she grows up. Why would a life giver like you walk alongside a destroyer like her?**_

"Madara's my friend," Hashirama defended firmly, "she won't hurt me, and I won't hurt her. She's an Uchiha, so she's almost naturally fire natured. It doesn't matter to me."

_**My, my, a Senju and an Uchiha! And he's so defensive too! **_There was another rustle of laughter, courtesy of the tree. If Hashirama hadn't known better, he would've sworn that the tree sounded smug. _**Are you thinking what I'm thinking, reed?**_

_**Heehee, **_the reed was giggling, much to Hashirama's bafflement. He didn't think he had said anything hilarious. _**Indeed you are correct! So protective, and he isn't even aware of it!**_

"What's correct? What are you guys thinking? I didn't say anything funny!" He had never been more confused.

_**Wow, you really are kinda dense, aren't you? **_The tree chuckled, a few leaves shaking loose from the tremors of laughter. _**Don't dwell on it much. You won't have time anyways. Your Uchiha's coming this way! **_The reed, at this point, was laughing uproariously (or so it seemed to Hashirama. Had anyone else walked by, they would've heard nothing but Hashirama's confused inquiries).

_Those plants, really! Was this what my mokuton ancestor had to deal with all the time? And what did they mean by __**my **__Uchiha? I'm so confused. _However, before he could ask, a branch picked him up by the scruff of his neck, almost like a dirty puppy, and tossed him to the riverbank. He yelped and landed on his feet, swiftly dusting himself off and shot the tree a dirty look. The tree waved a branch innocently.

Hashirama bristled. "Stop mocking me, stupid!" he yelled as loud as he could in the tree's direction. Satisfied, he turned around…only to find Madara staring at him, a bemused expression on her face.

"Did I perchance just see you yell at a tree?" She asked, a smirk tugging at her lips. Hashirama flushed in embarrassment.

"…no?" He denied lamely, making Madara laugh.

"Wrong punctuation, dork."

Hashirama immediately fell into his customary depression. He practically heard his friend roll her eyes in exasperation.

"I'm going to kick you if you don't get up this instant!"

Ok, playtime was over. If he let Madara's kick land solidly on his back, he could probably wave goodbye to his shinobi career. Her kicks _hurt_. He sprang up immediately, beaming smile on his face. The smile grew even wider when he saw her face-palm.

"Oh come on, I'm not that horrible am I?" Hashirama grinned at her cheekily, pointedly ignoring the "dork" comment she sent his way. "Ok, ok, I get it. The depressions are annoying. Let's spar instead!"

* * *

He knew last night that the times after sparring would be the most painful. Madara would definitely bring up Izuna, reminding him of his own younger brother. Hashirama did not intend to tell his friend that Itama had died. She would feel guilty because it was the Uchiha that killed Itama, and it would just make things uncomfortable in general.

He predicted it happening last night. He had drilled himself for it, steeled his nerves for the knife that would twist in his heart when Madara began to speak of her brother. However, even with all his preparations, it was all he could do to hold back a choking sob.

Hashirama couldn't help feeling slightly jealous when he saw the Madara's joy as she spoke of Izuna. He could never speak of Itama like that again, not without crushing guilt that came with his inability to protect him. As Madara continued telling stories of her younger brother's week, Hashirama turned his face away from her, opting to look at the riverbank instead.

Memories of Itama swirled in his head, battering at his already fragile self-control. A familiar sting reasserted itself behind his eyes, irritating them. He discreetly swiped at his eyes, and his hand came away wet with tears. He bit his lip and chanced a glance at Madara.

She was still talking, blissfully unaware of Hashirama's predicament. Seeing that she wasn't paying attention, he tried as to stem the tears that were flowing like a river from a broke dam. His nose felt stuffy, and he sniffed as quietly as he could.

Unfortunately, this drew the attention of his friend, who immediately stopped talking about Izuna. In a way, he felt relieved.

"Are you…_crying_?" She asked uncertainly, observing him like an alien object. "What's wrong?"

Even as he wiped away the last of his tears, he shook his head fervently, not wanting to burden her with the unhappy knowledge.

Madara, however, insisted, "It's ok to tell me, you know."

"…Are you sure?" He asked, wishing she wouldn't be so stubborn. Then again, if she wasn't stubborn, she wouldn't be Madara. He knew that much after a year's interaction with her.

"I'm sure. You're my friend, so I have a right to know what's going on."

Hashirama chuckled, the sound a little watery due to his earlier crying. One could see Madara's pride plain as day in that statement. Normally, people would say "I'm your friend" instead of "you're _my _friend" as she just did. He silently thanked Kami for giving him such a no-nonsense friend to keep him on track. "Okay," he agreed, and took a deep breath, then let it out, "Okay."

"My little brother died."

Madara's eyes widened considerably for a moment, then she quickly averted her gaze. "Oh." She said quietly, then murmured, "It was my clan's fault, wasn't it?"

"No!" Hashirama insisted immediately, "It was Uchiha shinobi that killed my brother, true, but it definitely wasn't their fault! To them, Itama was just another enemy Senju, kid or not, so they killed him. It was the natural response. That doesn't put them at fault!"

His friend looked up, her eyes wide with surprise. "You…mean that?" She said slowly in disbelief.

Hashirama nodded firmly, and said, "It wasn't the Uchiha shinobi's fault. And anyways, Tobirama killed one of them on our way to try and save Itama, so fair's fair. Really, we're even. It wasn't your fault or mine. If anything, it's the hatred between our clans that caused this."

She let out a dry laugh. "Look at us," she finally said, "you are the one with a newly dead brother, yet it is me being comforted and reassured. This world is so backwards." She ran a hand through messy black hair, before turning to him and asking, "So, how are _you _feeling?"

Hashirama smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm definitely not feeling 'fine'," he admitted, "but I think I'm over the worst of it. I spent most of yesterday talking to him, and I had a discussion with my sister. It doesn't hurt as bad anymore."

His friend nodded thoughtfully at his answer, and Hashirama felt her give his shoulder a gentle pat; probably her expression of condolence. She said, "I guess this means we have to hurry along our dream, huh?"

Hashirama nodded in confirmation, "Yeah," he said, "all this time we've just been talking, and not really doing any planning. I want Tobirama to live to see peace, and I'm sure you want the same for Izuna. The thing is, if we keep wasting time like this, I doubt either of our siblings will survive to see the end of the warring states. So, any ideas?"

The Uchiha tapped her chin, a habit that told Hashirama she was thinking. He waited patiently, and finally Madara said, "I think our brainstorming process would be easier if we start with the results we want. The adults always say 'Keep the goal in mind' while we're on missions, right? I think that's where we should start too. I'll begin. We both want the Senju and Uchiha to stop fighting each other, correct?"

"Yes," Hashirama agreed, "and we want our clans to be able to live peacefully afterwards, without being under attack by other clans."

"That means we have to have some sort of alliance between our families," Madara analyzed, "I mean, we're the strongest clans around. If we're allied with each other, I don't think any clan will be willing to take us on."

"We'll only be strong if we're close enough to help each other though," Hashirama pointed out, "and that means we'll have to live pretty close to each other, maybe even with each other."

"So, the end result is that we have to form an alliance between the Senju and the Uchiha, and then live close to each other, right?"

"That about sums it up."

Madara hummed thoughtfully, and suddenly clapped her hands together in glee. "I got it!" She exclaimed, "We'll do what all those civilian people do! They live in those house clusters and have shops and restaurants and all that, and they're pretty much self-sustaining. I just can't remember what were those things were called—"

"Villages!" Hashirama interjected, excitement flooding his veins as everything started to come together, "Our clans will form a ninja village, and we'll make the village self sustaining so no one will have to venture out where people are still fighting wars. It'll have everything regular villages have, and that way we could live in peace!"

Madara nodded, a wide smile plastered all over her face, "When I passed by one of the civilian villages on a mission, I saw their children running around in the streets and playing, and there was also an academy. We should also have an academy to teach the children how to fight, but the regime shouldn't be insane like ours. It should still give them a lot of time to play everyday. We'll just teach them enough so they can survive even if there's an attack."

"That means we'll have some sort of hierarchy then," he said quickly, "there has to be a cutoff age for being allowed to battle. I'd say around eleven-ish. That way they get ample time to train, and they would have had a childhood by the time they head out to battle. And their teachers will be grown shinobi, which I assume is what we'll be by that time."

His friend added, "The shinobi should be organized into different levels based on skill, so we can tell who has the experience to teach and who actually need to learn."

"That's a good point, Madara." He frowned thoughtfully for a moment before speaking: "I'm thinking…around four levels? First will be the students from the academy, and then there'll be genin, the graduates from the academy who are allowed to fight, then chunin, which is the mediocre shinobi, and then jounin for truly skilled people. What do you think?"

He was smacked lightly on the head by a laughing Madara. "I think those names are fitting for a dork like you!" She teased good-naturedly.

Her ringing laughter brought a warm feeling bubbling up to his chest, and his face split into a wide grin. "I'll take that as acceptance then!"

Madara grinned back at him, her eyes bright with joy. "So, any idea where we're going to build this thing?" She asked.

Hashirama frowned lightly. He hadn't thought that far ahead yet. _Time to improvise, I guess,_ he thought, and in a daring act, he grabbed Madara's hand, hauling them both into a standing position.

She gave him a mild glare. "What was that for?"

He gave her what he hoped was a winning smile and said, "I don't know where we're gonna build it, so might as well look around now, right?"

Madara gave a long sigh and stood up. "Alright, dork," she said a little grumpily, "but I get to lead the way."

"Sure."

It wasn't until after they were strolling along the winding river that he realized their hands were still connected. He felt a rush of heat on his cheeks, and vaguely wondered if he should let go. However, he didn't want to seem rude, and Madara's grip wasn't too firm, so the situation wasn't intolerable. On the contrary, he found it quite pleasant, walking hand in hand with Madara.

The smile on his face resolutely remained the entire walk. They followed the winding river downstream, discussing different landscapes and topographies. Eventually, they came to a bend in the river, and that's when Madara whooped in triumph.

"There!" the Uchiha exclaimed pointing with her free hand, "Do you see that rock plateau next to the river? It's perfect! We could build our village right at the foot of the cliff. It'll be a vantage point for us should any enemies attack, and we could see for the whole forest from up there, so it will be a good lookout post too. Come on, let's go check it out!"

She abruptly disconnected their hands and took off across the water. Hashirama hurriedly shrugged off his disappointment and followed. When he arrived at the top of the rock formation, Madara was already seated at the other edge of the plateau. She met his eyes and made an extravagant gesture to the view before her, and Hashirama had to admit that it was impressive.

The cliff was curved and formed a semicircle around an area of forest, and it stood far taller than any of the trees. The wind was strong, and a constant stream of leaves was blowing past the cliff face, filling the sky like moving green stars. He turned and grinned widely at his friend, silently commending her choice.

"This place is great!" Hashirama cheered as he sat down next to his friend. "So once we start building, we'll just take out the trees and put the houses in the cliff's shadow." His eyes strayed briefly to her hand as he spoke, but he decided it was too risky to hold it again. He bit back a wistful sigh and continued, "After that, we could put up more trees around the cliff and the village to conceal it!"

His friend nodded in agreement, and suddenly Hashirama laughed, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He had a plan to peace now, and he had a friend who was willing to help him achieve it. He would finally keep his promise and show Tobirama an era of peace that he could not show to Itama and Kawarama. Everything would work out the way it was supposed to, unless…

"Ne, Madara," he began, "let make this an official pact between us, ok? I promise to make this dream a reality no matter what, and I'll grow strong enough to make my clan mates see sense. And once we succeed in forming an alliance, I'll bring my clan here and build our village, together with your clan. What about you?"

Madara snorted. "Sometimes I forget how crazy you are, Hashirama. As if I'd lose in terms of strength to a dork like you. Both of us will become strong enough to come back one day and build this village and both our siblings will get to see it. That I promise."

"Let's mark this area then, so we can find it easily once we return as grown-ups. It'll also be a sign of the treaty between you and me, so to say."

She frowned at him, skeptical, "What are you going to do?"

"Just this!" Hashirama replied with his trademark crazy grin, and he clapped his hands together, concentrating fiercely. Flowers were tricky to produce with his mokuton, and the type varied with his emotions. If he wasn't feeling a particularly powerful emotion, then there was a possibility that he couldn't create flowers at that time. However, today he was happy and relieved, and there was a foreign but pleasant warmth that lingered from holding Madara's hand.

There was a rumbling sound from the foot of the cliff next to the river. A few seconds later, a field of beautiful blue wildflowers emerged, covering the entire base of the cliff. The flowers had five small petals each, and were a stunning shade of blue. Wasurenagusa*.

Hashirama grinned proudly as he surveyed his handiwork. The field of blue flowers would be impossible to miss, and they would bloom again each year. It was the perfect landmark, and as a bonus, the flowers were beautiful. They would also attract butterflies later.

His grin widened even further when he saw the flabbergasted expression on Madara's face. He had showered her mokuton before, but never on this scale, and never with flowers. He tried his best to memorize her priceless expression.

"Wow…" She breathed, obviously impressed. "Well, that's some landmark, Hashirama."

"No dork this time?" He asked cheekily, earning himself a half-hearted glare from Madara.

"Excuse me for giving you a genuine compliment." She huffed as she turned away, "I can't help it if your ego is too big to accept it."

"I think you beat me on accounts of ego, Madara," he teased, doing a mental victory dance when he heard her chuckle.

"Yeah, I'll agree with you on that. That and building the village." She said, before leaping off the cliff in one deft motion, landing in the middle of the forget-me-nots. "Come down!" She called to Hashirama, "It's time to head back!"

He jumped down after her, also landing in a sea of blue. A grin appeared on his face as he saw a flash of bright yellow. As he predicted, butterflies were already flocking to this new food source. "Look, Madara," he said, pointing at an enormous yellow and black patterned swallowtail butterfly.

Madara smiled when she saw the insect. "It's beautiful," she commented, "my mother loved butterflies. She said that whenever one appeared, something significant was about to change." Then she seemed to think of something and laughed. "With all the butterflies these flowers are attracting, we're gonna change the course of history or something, Hashirama!"

They shared an echoing laugh, and then they walked back to their original meeting place upstream. At that time, neither of them knew how true Madara's words would become.

* * *

***forget-me-nots have a special meaning in Japanese flower language that I simply couldn't resist. Look it up on Google if you're interested. I'm such a sap, I know XD**

* * *

**Okay, first of all, I am so sorry for the lateness. School's picking up pace now, and I'll probably have to update more sporadically from now on. The dates are still Saturday/Sunday, but it might be once every two or maybe even once every three weeks now. There's a status bar on my profile that says what I'm currently doing, so check that out if you guys are unsure about update dates. ****I apologize in advance for upcoming lateness. **

**A HUGE thank you to all those who faved/followed/reviewed! As always, your reviews make me happier than I can possibly say. Thanks so much for the support, guys, it means a lot!**

**Talking plants idea inspired by GaleSynch's **_**Felo De Se**_**, a wonderful Mokuton!Naruto x FemSasuke story. If you guys haven't seen it yet, go read it. It's a heck lot better than anything I can come up with. **

**Next chapter is the confrontation between Madara and Hashirama's families, and also the conclusion of Arc One. Stay Tuned!**

**Review please! **


	5. Confrontations

**Warnings: mild swearing. Some dialogue in later part taken almost word for word from manga translation.**

**And I just realized I never did a disclaimer, so I'll do one now. I don't own Naruto, only the ideas behind this story.**

* * *

_Arc One: Before the Beginning_

_Chapter Five: Confrontations_

Madara spent the entire walk to her father's office cursing. She had grown so used to meeting Hashirama and not getting caught that she had neglected to scan the area with her sharingan. Her sensor abilities hadn't reported anyone's presence, but whomever her father had sent to spy on her must have been masking his chakra extremely well. Now, just the day before her next meeting with Hashirama, she was paying for her carelessness.

A jolt of nervousness shot through Madara as she stepped over the threshold and into the building. How much did the spy overhear? Did her father know that she was aware of Hashirama's clan name? If he did, he would definitely kill her, and would tell her as such. Her hands trembled slightly at the though, and she snapped at herself to stop acting weak. If her father _had _found out and was intent on executing her, she would go with her head held high.

"Tou-sama," she greeted in a neutral tone, "you wanted to see me?"

Tajima nodded solemnly, and indicated for her to sit before him at his work table. "Madara," he began, "I noticed that you had taken to training at the riverbank for the last year or two. Routine habits are dangerous for a shinobi, so I sent one of our clansmen to tail you in order to ensure your safety. Izuna followed you from the moment you left the compound until an hour before you returned."

_Father sent Izuna to spy on me?_ Her mind suddenly swirled with questions, but one thing was certain. As long as she watched her step, she would definitely live through the night. Izuna would never tell their father that Madara knew Hashirama's clan name.

"…said you were meeting a boy by the river. I have investigated all our files of enemy ninja based on Izuna's descriptions of the boy and based on the name Hashirama, and have discovered that he is actually a Senju, one of our greatest enemies. I trust that you did not know before today?"

Only a fool would have said "yes" to that question, and Madara was no fool. "No, Father, I did not."

Tajima nodded, having expected that answer. "I trust you know what to do then?"

Unfortunately, she did. Her options were to use Hashirama to collect Senju information, follow him to his clan compound after meeting him the next time, or kill him. For appearances' sake, she nodded at her father, who waved his hand and dismissed her. She maintained a calm walk all the way out of the office, then broke into a run towards her house. She had to talk to Izuna.

* * *

Madara refrained from entering Izuna's room directly. In these days, bursting into a room was likely to get oneself mistaken for an enemy, so she knocked three times, very loudly. The door slid open almost immediately, and her brother appeared, swiftly pulling her in and sliding the door shut.

"Madara!" Izuna began in a furious whisper, "Why are you being all chummy with the Senju, of all people? Out of everyone, I never expected you to be the one that—when Father sent me to spy on you I thought it'd be totally fine—just, oh Kami, _why?_ _Why would you do this? _Do you have any idea how much I—"

"Izuna," she interrupted, "you were worried, and I know I need to explain some things—"

"Damn straight you do!" Izuna seethed, "You have no idea how much agony I went through while I was on my way home! What in the name of Kami was I going to tell Father? My sister, my perfect big sister, _knowingly meeting a Senju?! _Tou-sama would have had a stroke! Or hell, forget him, _I nearly had a stroke!"_

"But you didn't tell him everything—"

"Of course I didn't!" Izuna cut in loudly, before he realized the danger of discussing a sensitive issue so brashly and lowered his voice again. "He would have executed you!" he growled in a quieter tone, but the anger in his voice was no less potent. "Where do you think I would be then?! My last sibling dead and gone with a kunai jammed in her neck by my own father! I couldn't—I wouldn't let that happen! I'd be burning in hell before someone takes you away!"

"I know, Izuna," Madara said, desperately trying to calm her raging brother, "I know you didn't tell Father that I knew Hashirama's clan name—"

"Which brings us back to the original point! Why are you meeting him anyways?!" Izuna demanded, "This has been going on how long, five months, a year, two years?! And all this time I didn't know? I'm supposed to be your brother, damn it! I thought we were supposed to trust each other!"

"So you wouldn't have blown up at me if I had told you two years earlier?!" Madara snapped, at the end of her patience, "If I told you that I was meeting a _Senju _every week by the river, you would have just accepted it?!"

"Hell no!" Izuna retorted furiously, "I would have raged and snapped and given you hell just like I am now—"

"So what's the difference—"

"At least you would have cared enough to tell me about it!" Izuna full out yelled, foregoing whispering altogether, "Am I not _trustworthy _enough for you?! After all the battles we fought together with me watching your back, all the missions we went on for Father, hell, the fact that I'm your _last kami forsaken brother, __**all of that**__ was not enough for you to let me in on this?!"_

She physically recoiled, protests dying in her throat. She couldn't speak. _It's true, _she thought, her own ire fading away, _I never thought of telling Izuna. I was just trying to hide the meetings from everyone, and I never even mentioned this to him, even though he tells me everything… _

"Well, did you even think about telling me at all?" Izuna demanded bitterly, unconsciously spinning his sharingan in his agitation. "A Senju, someone from our biggest freaking enemy clan, is meeting with _my sister_?! I shouldn't have found out from a Kami-damned _spying _mission! And damn it, if that Senju had ill intentions, and you never came home one day, I'd have to find _your_ dead body floating in the river with a Senju sword through your back, I'd—I'd—"

"Izuna," she interrupted quietly, and her gaze met her brother's burning red irises and his and his wildly churning tomoe. "I'm sorry." She said simply.

Her brother stared at her for a long while, and the rage and hurt slowly drained from his eyes. His sharingan faded, and he gave a long sigh and plopped down on his futon. "…I was worried," he admitted, "and just a little betrayed. You used to tell me everything, and these two years you've been really secretive. I didn't know what was going on, and that wound me up. And when I found that…"

"That I was meeting a Senju knowingly, you lost it, right?" Madara finished gently, sitting down as well, "It was my fault. I should have told you."

Izuna nodded in acceptance, then chuckled, "Well, now I know. Unfortunately, now Father does too, except that last bit. He doesn't know that you're aware the boy's a Senju." There was a period of silence, and finally, Izuna asked, "…Why did you do it?"

Madara shrugged. "Many reasons," she said, "I'll tell you what happened, and then you can decide whether I was being stupid or not."

Seeing Izuna give her a nod to go ahead, Madara began, "I first met Hashirama when I was ten. I thought he was the weirdest kid I ever met. I mean, he had this random depression thing, and his mood changes even faster than one can blink. He found out I trained actively in the shinobi arts and took to sipping stones with me. Then he asked to spar, and…he's quite good, perhaps even better than me."

"No way!" Izuna exclaimed, "But you're so talented! Even Father's acknowledged that!"

"I know," she said, irritated at having to state Hashirama's superiority at sparring, "but he's seriously good. I've never trained with anything like it."

"But anyways, during the entire afternoon, he was always so happy. He was just really cheerful, and he always acted so optimistic, and…he reminded me of you a little. I got to play like a civilian child for a few hours, and there was no trainer breathing down my neck or enemies trying to kill me, and it was just really comforting. I liked that feeling, so when he asked to meet again, I accepted it."

"The second time around, we sparred again, and then we got to the topic of siblings while we were chatting. I told him I had one, but he just _had _to push for more information, so I told him I lost my three other brothers."

Her brother visibly winced as she said that sentence, and Madara relented. "Should I keep going?" She asked, concerned.

"I'm fine." Izuna insisted, waving a hand to signal her to continue.

"So anyways, he tells me that he's lost one sibling and has two left. He only has one now though." she added as an afterthought, and silenced Izuna when he tried to ask a question.

"I'll tell you later," she promised, before continuing, "Neither of us was too happy at the prospect of losing more siblings, so he asked me what could be done about it. I answered that in order to have peace, the shinobi must be willing to trust each other."

"But that isn't possible," Izuna interrupted, "we're shinobi! What if the people that we trust kill us the moment we turn around?"

"That's what I said next," Madara explained, "but he wouldn't accept it. He was quite a naïve child. So in order to prove me wrong and that shinobi can trust each other, the idiot tells me his clan name, just like that. Of course, I flipped out and tried to leave when he turned out to be a Senju, but he wouldn't let me."

"So you just listened?" Izuna asked incredulously.

"He had some good reasons," she admitted, "he said that no one would found out, given that none of our families were watching at the time. And he said that trust had to start somewhere, or both our clans will just keep killing and killing until we're all dead. And peace was really an appealing topic, if only to dream about, so I stayed. And that's what happened."

"You hung around a Senju for two years just to daydream?" Izuna asked, stupefied, "That's got to be the most irrational thing you've ever done, nee-chan."

"Yeah," she agreed, "it was pretty stupid. But I feel that it could work, and that we could have peace on day. The two of us came up with some really good ideas. We just have to both grow to become really strong shinobi, then our clansmen will be willing to listen to us."

"But feuds don't disappear just like _that_," her brother protested, "you have to have something that diffuses it. And there's the fact that he's a Senju. I mean, our clans have been trying to kill each other for generations now, what makes you think that he can be trusted of all people?"

"You've heard all the talking in the clan these days," Madara responded, "some people are already tired of the fighting. I'll bet that by the time I'm older, they're going to be thoroughly sick of it. The idea of peace would be an easy sell. And as for Hashirama, he hasn't tried to kill me once in two years. If he were faking openness and good-intentions, he wouldn't have lasted more than two months at best. The sharingan can see chakra patterns so I would have been able to interpret his emotions somewhat and tell if he were lying."

Izuna's eyes narrowed. "You trust him then." It was not a question.

"Yes."

There was a brief silence. Her brother settled himself more comfortably on his futon and let out a long sigh. "I really hope that this Senju is as trustworthy as you say, nee-chan," he finally said, "but please don't let your guard down around him. I'm going to be keeping an eye on his actions."

A triumphant smile materialized on her face, "You'll trust me on this then?"

"Hn." Izuna grunted, then asked, "What will you do about Father?"

She did not hesitate. "I have no intention of using Hashirama to obtain Senju intelligence of any kind, and there's no way in hell that I'm going to kill him."

"That's very dangerous, nee-chan," Izuna warned, "I know for sure that Father is planning to follow you to your next meeting tomorrow to make sure you obey. And he's probably planning to take me along. As strong as you are, Father is still more powerful than you at this point, and he'll kill you if you go too out-of-bounds—"

"I know," Madara interrupted, "and that's precisely why I have to warn Hashirama without Father realizing anything is out of place."

"…I wasn't finished," Izuna said in a mildly irritated tone, "there's something important that I should mention now before I forget. I wasn't the only person spying on you and that Hashirama boy today."

Her head snapped up in alarm. "What did you say?" she demanded.

"I said I wasn't the only person spying on you and that Senju boy today," Izuna repeated, "someone else was there."

"_Who?"_

"I don't know," her brother shrugged, "but she isn't from our clan. She's from the Senju clan."

"I kind of assumed that if there was another spy, it would be from the Senju." Madara dismissed flippantly, before something registered in her mind. "Wait, _she? _Another female shinobi? I didn't know that was becoming a trend."

"Don't get all sarcastic on me," Izuna grumbled, "yes, it was definitely a girl. I could tell from when she was talking."

"You talked with her?" Madara asked in disbelief.

Izuna shrugged. "More like insulting each other's families to the fifth generation back, but yeah, we talked. Surprisingly she didn't attack, but I'm assuming its because she didn't want to give away her presence to you and that Senju boy. At least that was my reason for not trying to kill her. She had shoulder length white hair and red eyes, in case that helps."

_That matches one of Hashirama's descriptions of his siblings! _Madara thought, and she asked one clarifying question, "Did she seem to hate you a lot?"

"Eh, yeah," Izuna tipped his head to the side, as he usually did when straining to remember something, "I didn't have my sharingan activated, so I can't tell exactly through her chakra flow, but she definitely didn't like me. She was suppressing killing intent the whole time."

_Yep, it's got to be her_. Her suspicions confirmed, Madara began to chuckle. "It looks like I'm not the only one conversing with a sibling now," she mused, "although if his descriptions of her are of any merit, 'berated' probably suits his situation better…"

"Nee-chan?" Her brother asked questioningly, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, its just that your descriptions of the other spy sounds a lot like Hashirama's last sibling Tobirama. Hashirama said that his sister has a pretty fierce anti-Uchiha disposition, so she's probably giving him hell over the meetings with me. And you know how you wanted to ask about how Hashirama only has one sibling left? That's her, and the two of them just lost their youngest brother last week."

"Oh," Izuna said by way of revelation, "no wonder she looked like she wanted to shred me and eat me afterwards."

"That about sums it up," Madara agreed, "which is why I concluded that Hashirama is getting berated just about now."

Her brother grinned in return, before flat out lying down on his futon, crossing his arms behind his head. "So," he began, "how are you going to warn that Senju boy without getting caught by Father?"

Madara grinned widely, and put her hand in her pocket "I'm planning to warn him," _pause for dramatic effect,_ "with this." She fished a small, flat stone out of her pocket with a flourish and tossed it to her brother.

Izuna caught the little pebble easily and began to examine it. "You going to carve it or something?" Izuna asked curiously as he turned the stone over in his palm. "How's he going to see it?"

She replied proudly, "We sometimes start off the meeting by skipping a few rocks. Then we'll spar. We always check the rocks when they reach the other side to make sure that no one was cheating. He'll see it then."

Izuna, at this point, had been tossing the small rock into the air and catching it again absentmindedly. He seemed deep in thought. "…Do you really think it would work?" He finally asked.

"Of course it'll work!" Madara protested indignantly, "we always check out the stone and—"

"I wasn't talking about that!" Izuna snapped, before he quieted down again. "I was talking about, you know, the whole Senju-Uchiha truce thing you and that boy were discussing. I mean, I overheard snippets during the river today, but…"

She tipped her head to the side thoughtfully. "I'm not sure," she finally said, "but I want to try. If this village idea really works, then you won't have to go fight and kill people anymore. I'd like that." She left the _and I'd never be in danger of losing you _portion unsaid, but her little brother picked it up anyways.

"…I can't say I support this, but for now...I just have to think this over. Maybe I'll agree to it later." Izuna looked like the last sentence physically pained him.

"Of course, all mighty clan-heir sama," Madara snickered, "take all the time you need."

Izuna whacked her lightly on the arm. "Stop that!" He sulked, "I think that both of us know that even when I become clan head, you're still not going to listen to me."

"Yeah." she grinned, before adding, "But in this case, I actually am kind of serious. You are the clan heir after all, and like it or not you're going to be the one making this decision. I can only propose the idea, and even though I may do a hell lot of endorsement when the time comes, the final decision is still going to be yours. So in a sense, it would be nice to know if you're actually with me or not on this issue."

When she saw her brother's troubled expression however, she relented. "Don't worry about it now, brother," she finally sighed, "you aren't going to have to take a stance until a whole lot later. As much as I want to think a peaceful village is possible, we still have to wait and see."

"…Alright." Izuna agreed, and he sighed. "Let's get back on track. So you're definitely going to be warning this Senju friend of yours tomorrow, huh?"

"Yes," Madara replied, "and I've been thinking, since Tobirama was spying on her brother as well, wouldn't her father also be aware of these meetings by now? Because if that's the case, then we should definitely expect Hashirama's father and sister at this next meeting too."

"Aw, hell." Izuna grumbled, "Well, nee-chan, if you're going to warn your friend, you'd better do it fast and then hightail it out of there if you want to avoid a confrontation."

"The thing is, I don't think avoiding that confrontation is possible," she pointed out, "I mean, both Tobirama and her father are more than competent. Tobirama is probably on par with you, if Hashirama's descriptions of her are to be believed, and their father is sure not to be a wash out either."

"You're right regarding that," Izuna consented, "I'm assuming Father didn't tell you this, but while he was searching through the enemy files he found that Hashirama was actually the son of the Senju clan head, Butsuma. So if his father's going to be coming, we're going to be dealing with a free for all between the two clan heads and their remaining families."

Madara's mind stuttered to a stop. She gaped at Izuna blankly as she processed the information, and when she finally regained her capability of speech, what came out was a sharp screech. "_You're telling me that dork of a Senju is the son of the freaking clan head?!"_

"I wasn't expecting you to react that way, but yeah, he is." Izuna confirmed wryly, before shooting her a curious glance. "Why, is there a problem?"

"He just—I don't—I mean, what kind of a clan heir acts in the likes of _him_?!" she sputtered, disbelief and denial running rampant through her mind. All his random depressions, his overly carefree manner, his cheerfulness, and _all this time he was the heir of the biggest clan to exist other than the Uchiha?! _She wouldn't accept that. _A clan heir with so many pressures couldn't possibly be that happy,_ she insisted to herself, but deep down, she knew why she denied the possibility.

She was jealous. She was the daughter of the clan head, and she was currently shouldering more responsibilities than Izuna, the actual heir, due to her seniority. Some things Izuna just couldn't handle at this age. This made her position in the clan basically equivalent to Hashirama, yet he managed to be so cheerful and upbeat while she stumbled in the dark. It wasn't fair.

Izuna, in the meantime, closed his eyes and sighed. "Apparently he does," he said, in response to her previous question. "But yeah, he's the Senju clan heir. But what are you going to do about the confrontation, nee-chan? There's almost sure to be a fight, and anything can happen." The words '_we could die' _were left unsaid, but no less understood.

Madara gritted her teeth. "None of us will die," she promised firmly.

"What are you gonna do?" Izuna asked suspiciously, his eyes narrowed. However, the huge yawn that followed the sentence severely decreased the seriousness of his question.

"Nothing stupid," Madara reassured, and then in a softer tone she added, "You should probably get some sleep, brother. You look like you need it. Don't worry yourself over it."

"…if you say so." Her brother didn't look entirely convinced, but he accepted her less than stellar comfort and rolled over on his futon. Madara took this as her cue to leave and quietly got up.

She headed for the door sliding it open carefully, before she stepped out side. "Good night, brother." She said as she slid the door shut and walked away towards her own room, the impending meeting with Hashirama heavy in her mind.

* * *

_**The next day**_

* * *

"Ready?" Tajima Uchiha asked. It was more of a command than a question. Both Tajima and Izuna following Madara to her meeting with the Senju heir. The former two were fully armed, and both were donning armor. Madara went as she normally would, in her plain dark yukata, but she had a kunai pouch in her pocket along with the stone that she was using to warn her friend.

Her father's words echoed in her mind: _kill him if he suspects anything, _and she grimaced. Hopefully Hashirama would get her warning and escape before she had to pull out any weapons.

After a few moments of adjustment, their father seemed to deem them sufficiently ready. "We leave now." He decreed, and simultaneously all three Uchiha shot through the gate of the compound, following the rock tunnel that led away from their hideout.

"Lead the way, Madara," her father commanded once they were in open forest, "and remember to stay ahead somewhat. Izuna and I must arrive after you in order to not arouse suspicion prior." She nodded to show that she understood, and immediately dropped to the lower branches of the trees, picking up her pace until she should no longer sense her father and brother's chakra signatures.

A creeping sense of dread threatened to engulf her as she approached the river. What if Hashirama didn't check the stone, just this once? What if his parent and sibling arrived before he did? Or even worse, what if they came in place of him? Although her rationale ruled the latter two as extremely unlikely options, some part of her still couldn't shake the doubt.

When she arrived at the riverbank and sensed only Hashirama's by the river she was almost relieved. "Hey Hashirama," she greeted casually, as she stepped into his line of vision, "I was thinking that we start the day with a rock skipping competition, what say you?"

"Oh, hi Madara!" the boy greeted, "That sounds like a great idea! Let's skip at the same time!"

Madara's eyes narrowed. Although her friend's usual cheer was present, there was an added undertone of nervousness, which was accentuated by the flickering of his eyes towards the forest behind him. _So his parent and sibling really are en route here, _she mused, _better make this quick then. _

"Here!" She called loudly, as she pulled the stone out of her pocket and sent it across the river. Hashirama mirrored her movements. The stones almost seemed to wobble as they flew through the air and skimmed the water, and she thought for a terrifying moment that they would collide and sink to the river depths. Fortunately, both stones made it across, and she suppressed the urge to heave a sigh of relief when she saw Hashirama pick her's up and inspect it.

_There was no need to even look at Hashirama's stone,_ she thought as she picked it up and slipped it into her pocket. His earlier uneasy demeanor and well-disguised glances of panic already told her everything she needed to know: _it's not safe here, get out. _

She stood abruptly from her crouching position that she had been in to send her message rock across. "Oh, I just remembered I had some important errands to run," she adlibbed, "I have to go now. See you later!"

Hashirama also stood, her rock still clutched tightly in his hand. "Yeah, I'll see you later then too," he said, almost tripping over his words in his haste, "bye!"

They almost made it. Madara had just turned around and was about to spring into the forest when she sensed two waves of chakra rapidly approaching from both sides of the river. She swore to herself and leaped out of the way as her father and brother barreled past her. They landed right before the figures of two unfamiliar Senju, who had just arrived. One was a tall man dressed in crimson armor, not unlike her father, and the other was a white haired girl carrying a long sword. _So these two are Hashirama's family_, she thought.

"Will miracles never cease, Tajima Uchiha!" the Senju leader said, readying his sword.

"I see we're both on the same page, Butsuma Senju," her father retorted, steadying his tanto in response.

Even as the little siblings greeted each other satirically, the two leaders were already moving. Madara's eyes hyper focused on the kunai that left the Senju leader's hands, heading straight for her precious little brother. Without thinking, she snatched a kunai out of her pocket and sent it towards the one headed for Izuna. There was a satisfying crash of steel on steel, and both blades sank into the river.

She was standing in front of her little brother in an instant, her stance ready and sharingan blazing, rage boiling in her veins that someone had _dared _to attack Izuna while she was around. When she realized that Hashirama had done the same for his sister and was standing before her in his own Taijutsu stance, she almost laughed.

Had the peace they wanted ever really been possible? That was hard to believe now, with their families facing off and with her little brother almost killed by that other Senju bastard. She remembered her optimistic chat with Izuna last night, and smiled bitterly at the irony of the situation. _Reject Hashirama or keep believing. _There was no third option.

Madara grimaced. Izuna was behind her. Izuna, her precious little brother, who had almost been killed by a kunai thrown by Hashirama's father. She shouldn't even be hesitating in her decision. But Hashirama's open, honest face the day he told her his last name lingered in her mind, and she couldn't quite summon the willpower to cut their bond. As she agonized over her dilemma, however, she met her friend's eyes.

After two years of sharing secrets, she could read the other like a book. The amount of desperation in his irises jarred her. Although his stance was guarded and defensive, his expression was anything but. _It could still work, _he pleaded silently, _just believe me._

She stared back, her expression set in a frown. _You're kidding. How?_

_Just believe me, _he repeated with his eyes, _Give it a chance, and it'll work out. Please._

A silence. Even now, could she really still put faith into such a childish dream? A village of Senju and Uchiha, whose two leaders were currently itching to cross swords and shred the other? It was laughable, it was irrational, and it was totally naïve, and Madara was known for none of these things. But…

She glanced at Izuna, who was standing behind her, sword at the ready. Beneath his feet in the crystalline water, she spotted the two sunken kunai, one thrown to kill and the other thrown to save. True, she had saved Izuna from death this time. She had also done it the night she gained her sharingan. But both these saves were close, too close. If she had been standing just a _bit_ farther away today, or hadn't brought her kunai pouch, or anything other tiny deviation, her last brother would have been dead in the river, dying the waters red. A chill went through her at the thought.

There was no way she could protect him all the coming years without mishaps. Izuna would get injured one day, perhaps just a scratch today or a gash tomorrow, but one day the injury would be too severe to heal. Medics in the Uchiha were few and far between. No one to save her brother. And then her last sibling would be gone, just like that.

But if their dream were to become reality, if there was a peaceful village later…she could look forward to an ending. Once a village was constructed, her little brother would be safe, would _have a chance _to be safe. She would never have to fear him being injured or dying because she hadn't been an adequate older sister.

Only once a safe haven like the village had been constructed could her little brother truly be safe. The catch: for that village to even have a chance, she had to believe Hashirama.

So be it.

She gave a barely perceptible nod, but followed up with a glare. _Ok. I'll believe you. But you'd better know what you're doing. _The anxiety and desperation in her friend's eyes receded, and for a moment he looked so happy that Madara was afraid he would announce his relief and gratitude out loud. Fortunately, his self restraint held.

Madara straightened and said the words that circumstance required, "I had fun while it lasted, Hashirama." Her tone was mechanical, as if she were reciting lines from a script.

Her father, at this point, had his sharingan eagerly affixed on the Senju family before them. "So Madara," he said, fierce glee evident in his voice, "ready to get your hands dirty?"

The deal with Hashirama had been made. Now to fulfill her promise to Izuna, the fact that no one would die. She had to prevent the battle from ever happening, and to her relief, that was a task that did not require lying. "No," she responded with complete honesty, "you can handle the Senju leader, and Izuna can handle that brat, but Hashirama is stronger than me. If we fought now, we would lose."

Tajima's eyes narrowed at her friend. "Interesting," he said, "I didn't expect the boy to wield that much power. We fall back then."

She nodded in agreement, and then turned back to Hashirama. They might still secretly be friends, but circumstances were different now. Her next words needed to be spoken, if only for the purpose of jolting her naïve friend out of his own dimension. "Next time we meet, it will be on the battlefield, _Senju_ Hashirama," she said, staring her friend straight in the eye, "for I am _Uchiha _Madara!"

* * *

It was barely the middle of the afternoon when they returned the Uchiha compound, and Madara was currently seated in her room. Her father had seemed satisfied with the way the situation was handled, and only lectured Madara on training more extensively as the Senju heir was superior to her in terms of power.

Izuna, being the perceptive little brother he is, had definitely noticed the silent exchange between her and Hashirama, but he had been called away to train by his sensei as soon as he returned. She suspected that he would come talk with her later.

For now, though, she was alone with an ample amount of silence to organize her thoughts on the day. After dropping her kunai pouch on the table, Madara sat down on the wooden floor.

Hashirama was different, she mused, no matter what qualifiers she used. She had been expecting him to realize the futility of children's daydreams during the clash at the river, and had subconsciously almost waited for him to end their friendship. To her surprise, he kept wanting to preserve it, even though all the circumstances were against him and it was obvious that his family did not approve.

She had cooperated with him and agreed to preserve their friendship, but where were they now? There was no way they could continue meeting by the river weekly, now that their families were aware of it. There was no other means of communication available to them either, so they couldn't continue collaborating on what to do.

And what of their younger siblings? She had agreed to continue being friends with Hashirama, which probably meant that their "fights" would be better labeled as "violent spars" from now on. The fact that neither of them would fight to kill was for certain. But as for Tobirama and her little brother, she wasn't so certain. Madara could probably convince Izuna not to try and kill Tobirama, but she wasn't confident in Hashirama's ability to do the same. From what her friend had told her by the river, his little sister was always the more responsible one in the relationship.

If Hashirama wasn't able to convince Tobirama, and the Senju kunoichi fought Izuna with killing intent in the coming battles, all bets were off. She would not hesitate to kill the other Senju for attempting to harm her little brother. The problem now thought, was that Madara couldn't predict the result of Hashirama's attempts to persuade his little sister. She had to know beforehand to be ready, and currently her only communication route with her friend was cut off.

Madara flopped back onto the wooden floor with a sigh of frustration when a sharp pain came from her side. Irritated, she sat up to identify the source. It felt like she had lain on something small and very hard, and the object had also made a muffled clack when it came into contact with the floor planks. She reached into her pocket angrily and pulled out a small, flat stone that she hadn't noticed when removing her kunai pouch.

She was about to fling the stone out the window angrily when she realized there it was the same stone Hashirama had warned her with. The situation had been so tense that she had not even bothered to read the writing on the stone. Observing the carved text now, her eyes widened. There were only four words: _Run now, meet tonight. _

Tightening her grip on the stone, Madara smiled warmly to herself. Hashirama may be a naïve idiot, but he was a naïve idiot that knew how to plan ahead. A glance outside the window told her that dusk was approaching. Still smiling, she lay down on the floor again, facing the window, the stone held comfortably in her hand.

All she had to do was wait until the sun had set and then slip away in the night, maybe leaving a note for Izuna. She had somewhere she had to be.

* * *

**Oh my goodness I cannot apologize enough for the lateness of this chapter. This chapter was a monster. The writing personally felt iffy even though I tried so hard. And did anyone else feel that Madara is OOC in this chapter? Because if you guys do _please_ tell me. Ah, writer problems...**

**But anyways, a HUGE thank you to the people who reviewed/favorited/followed this story! I cannot belive how supportive you guys all are and it makes me so happy! And btw if you guys have any suggestions or complaints, don't hesitate to leave them in a review or pm! Your opinions are always welcomed. **

**And thus concludes the first arc of the story! The next chapter, the night time meeting, has a few surprises and is a lead-in to the next arc: The Years In-between. But more on that later. The next relative update dates are on my profile. **

**Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and please leave a review! **


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